The Dogs of War
by Manic 8-Ball
Summary: In early 1944 in WWII Europe Inuyasha is a walking courtmarshall who gets assigned to guard the beautiful but enigmatic singer Kagome Higurashi as a punishment. What could Kagome and her manager Kaede be up to? Naraku's up to his usual tricks as well.
1. Of Tarnished Brass and Wounded Pride

_Disclaimer__: I do not own Inuyasha™ nor do I own any of its characters or its original plotline. They are the intellectual property of Takahashi Rumiko and will remain so forever. My small claim on this work of fiction is in its creation of the alternate universe plotline, which I assert to the best of my knowledge to be an original product of my imagination. Any similarity to persons(other than the aforementioned characters belonging to Takahashi Rumiko) or events either real or previously imagined is completely coincidental and please excused._

_A/N: This story came about from a strange dream I had involving the rumored (unsubstantiated) change back to brown Class-A uniforms for the Army and the Inuyasha gumi…I woke up with a clear image in my head of a black and short haired, human  Inuyasha in a brown enlisted-man's uniform circa 1943. The thought occurred to me, 'If only I was as intimidating and commanding in uniform as that image is.' Yes, I am a guy; no, I do not have an Inuyasha fetish—although I envy him for seeing Kagome nude by chapter two of the manga, volume one—and as a result of being a guy, there will not be any 'fluff' in this fic. Although, you will get a man's take on the IY/Kag romance; but again: no 'fluff.' Even if I wanted to, I can't write that crap—makes me feel like some kind of cheesy latin romance novelist. Anyway, here it is: Enjoy!_

_P.S. I will not, repeat NOT litter my stories with A/N's, this is the only one you will get, EVER. You may applaud now…_

* * *

He frowned deeply as he stared at his uniform.

The new rank had obviously never been shined…but then, what would you expect of a Private, especially at this stage in the war? The lack of sheen on the rank, however, was not what displeased him at all; it was the rank itself: Private First Class.

As he leaned forward with a rag to begin buffing the tarnished brass, he willed himself to believe that this was a cake assignment, a nice break from the rigors he was so used to. He failed to swallow the tripe, and nearly gagged at the thought of his current assignment.

The newly christened PFC, recently demoted from his previous rank as Corporal, and before that demoted from Sergeant, and before that from Staff Sergeant, resigned himself to making things different this time. Hell, there was only a 'this time' because his brother (who was a Major), for some unknown reason had taken the liberty to stand up in his defense and save him from a Court Martial.

'Somehow,' Inuyasha deluded himself, 'this almost seems worse.'

After disobeying a direct order and striking a superior officer, the dark-haired young man had spent two weeks in the brig, trying to figure out how he was going get out of this one without being sent stateside for good. Just as he was starting to formulate a good story, his older brother Sesshoumaru had opened up the door to his little room, and informed him of his third, and last, chance.

"Well, you really screwed the pooch this time, didn't you?" Sesshoumaru had barely contained a laugh at that pun on his name.

"Piss off," had been the simple reply.

"Is that any way to talk to your savior?" Sesshoumaru inquired. "You don't even know why I'm here, do you?" After getting no response, he continued, "Somewhere deep in my rather oversized heart," Inuyasha scowled at that, "I found it hard to deny you the simple pleasure of doing what you like to do best, and asked for one more chance on your behalf. In light of the conditions under which you got yourself in here, it wasn't too difficult to convince the General to let you have one more stab at it. But," Sesshoumaru added as the young man's features suddenly brightened, "you have to prove yourself worthy of this second, er, third chance that has been given to you. As such, here is your next assignment," and he handed him a brown personnel file.

And now, here he was; polishing nearly useless brass rank, in preparation for a useless assignment. Previously he had been an Infantryman, a fighting doughboy. He had been a reconnaissance scout in the 82nd Airborne Division, the All Americans, because of his keen senses of sight, hearing and smell. He had seen battle in Sicily, and Salerno. He had been hoofing it up the Italian peninsula before he had been sent back here, to England. He was bitter to say the least. The biggest insult of the whole situation was that, to him, Infantrymen fight for each other, for their brothers, for their families back home. Not for a single person, not for the President of the United States, not for some general, but for all of the people who are important to them personally. He had been betrayed. He had been made a bodyguard.

As he finally got the brass looking presentable he turned his attention to the brown file he had thus far refused to look at since his brother had informed him of the assignment three days ago. He was mildly surprised at the portrait-sized photo that greeted him in the very front of the file. Her name was Kagome Higurashi, and, Inuyasha grudgingly admitted, she was very striking. Wavy dark hair, large expressive eyes, perfectly shaped nose and cheekbones, and full lips surrounding possibly the best smile he had ever seen. Most of this was lost on him, however, as he reviewed his orders. Kagome was on a USO tour, making appearances at Allied bases all over Europe. His job was to protect her while she was in transit from one USO show to another. 

'Not too bad,' he concluded, glancing back at the picture. 'She's probably one of those stuck up celebrity types, though. Oh well, how hard can protecting one little girl be? I wonder what color her eyes are though…'

He shrugged off that last thought and set the file aside. He picked up his uniform to put it on, still frowning at the pitiful state of his brass, and thinking that brown really wasn't his color. Moments later he gathered the file, his cap, and his pistol to go meet his new charge.

=@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@=

His brother, being on the General's staff, was already out at the airfield to greet the taxiing C-47 when Inuyasha pulled up in his jeep. Sesshoumaru sent a look of disapproval over his shoulder when he heard his brother approaching. The two were in stark contrast to each other. One had jet-black hair, stood somewhere under six feet but no shorter than 5'8", and had a lanky, but muscular build. The other had hair couldn't be mistaken for anything but white, stood well over six feet in height, and carried himself as if he was some kind of royalty. The only similarity between the two was the uniform, and even that was a stark contrast. Sesshoumaru, spending most of his time away from the daily happenings of war had an evenly and primly pressed uniform, with ribbons and brass dressed up to look as if they had just been made. Inuyasha, almost never wearing the stifling brown uniform on the other hand, looked as if he had dug his out of the bottom of some long-forgotten footlocker (in fact, he had) and had it pressed quickly. While the effort showed, it still made for a pitiful appearance, and Inuyasha knew it.

The plane came to a halt in front of them, and even as the engines were winding down, the door was opened and a staircase was put in place. The first occupants to leave the plane were a group of very stern looking older gentlemen, all with multicolored ribbons and lots of silver on their collars and shoulders. Sesshoumaru greeted all of them in the same professional and stoic manner, bidding them toward the waiting automobiles a few meters away. Inuyasha noted the number of Colonels and one-star Generals coming out of the plane, snapping a salute to each as they passed. Finally, out of the plane came a very plainly dressed, dark haired girl, escorted by an elderly woman; presumably the liaison assigned to visiting entertainers.

As Kagome made her way across the tarmac to where Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha were standing, Inuyasha had to stifle a sudden urge to gape. She looked absolutely nothing like the portrait he had been given of her. In the picture her hair had appeared glossy and permanently styled, her face heavily made up, whereas in person she looked as if she had just freshened up to get ready for daily life—she looked nothing like the porcelain doll he had been expecting.

She smiled as she approached them, and then addressed Sesshoumaru. "You must be Major Kusanagi. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." She extended her hand towards him and he eyed it for a brief second before taking it nonchalantly and returning her greeting.

"A pleasure to meet you as well Miss Higurashi," he replied without any hint that he truly meant what he said.

"It's good to see that our country still appreciates those who are willing risk their lives for it, even with a heritage most people are prejudiced to."

"Yes, well, as you know we are forbidden from any news from the Pacific Theatre, though most of the time we are too concerned with what is happening on this side of the world."

"Being an American of Japanese descent is difficult these days to say the least," Kagome stated, eyeing both of the Japanese-American soldiers in front of her. 'Odd to see two of them in the same place,' she thought, 'There aren't many in the first place.'

"If it weren't for my brother having volunteered for service in the Navy, I'm sure my family and I would have been interned like most other Japanese-Americans these days," she continued.

"Ensign Higurashi, isn't it? Souta Higurashi?" Sesshoumaru inquired in his usual stoic tone. "I've heard of him. Serves aboard an Escort Destroyer, doesn't he? He was involved in that battle last month. If I remember correctly, he wound up in command of the ship after the bridge was destroyed by the deck gun of the U-boat. He managed to sink that U-boat before his ship went under. How is he doing?"

Kagome nodded her head in response to his inquiries. "He's doing alright under the circumstances," she said. "After spending the night in the Northern Atlantic he got sick with pneumonia, not to mention the broken leg he suffered releasing the last of the lifeboats. He seems to be in good spirits though, and his condition is improving."

Nodding with approval, Sesshoumaru added, "Your brother is quite an officer. You should be very proud."

"Thank you, I am."

To this point, Inuyasha had felt somewhat unnecessary and was debating whether or not he should leave when Sesshoumaru suddenly turned to him.

"Miss Higurashi, may I introduce _my younger brother, Inuyasha Kusanagi." As they shook hands and exchanged greetings, he continued, "He has been assigned to be your guide and bodyguard while on your tour of the European Theatre."_

Kagome suddenly frowned. "I thought it was understood that I did not want an escort. I prefer to maintain a low profile."

Sesshoumaru shook his head slightly before responding. "Miss Higurashi, I am sure you are aware of how dangerously close to the lines your tour will take you, not to mention that you will be flown through enemy airspace to get there. We could either allow you to make your stops as planned with an escort, or we could restrict your itinerary to England and Sicily, where it is safe."

Kagome shook her head in resignation and sighed. "All right then. I will go with an escort." Suddenly she frowned and said, "But I don't have to like it."

Inuyasha almost winced at the tone in her voice, returning at once to his previous opinion of the entertainer. If she didn't have to like him, he sure as _hell_ didn't have to like her either…

"No one said you did. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must attend to our visiting officers. If you would please step to the car, we can deliver you to your lodgings," and he turned to the cars.

"Wait," Kagome called after him and he stopped as she asked, "What about Inuyasha?"

The young man once again had to restrain his reaction. 'What is going on here?' he thought. 'One minute she's declaring her dislike for me, the next she seems almost…concerned? Something's off about this girl…'

Sesshoumaru looked toward the Private and replied, "Private Kusanagi has been briefed as to your lodgings and will meet you there one hour prior to your show. He has his own transportation to get him to and from his barracks to your quarters." With that he motioned towards the cars and turned to go to them.

"If it's all the same to you, I think I would rather ride in Private Kusanagi's jeep." Sesshoumaru looked confused, so she continued, "I've heard a lot about them and I've wanted to ride in one for a while. Besides," she added, somewhat sheepishly, "big cars make me somewhat uncomfortable…"

"As you would like. Private Kusanagi," he turned toward Inuyasha, who was having trouble containing his surprise. 'What kind of girl would want to ride a dirty, bumpy, green, jeep?' he asked himself.

"Private Kusanagi?" Sesshoumaru asked again, somewhat perturbed this time.

"Yessir?" Inuyasha replied mockingly.

"You will escort Miss Higurashi and her Aide to their quarters, and remain confined to yours until it is time to meet Miss Higurashi for the show this evening."

"Yes Sir!" Inuyasha returned even more mockingly as he snapped his obviously annoyed brother a salute. Sesshoumaru stalked off to the waiting vehicles and they drove off, with Inuyasha smirking after them.

'Ya big jerk…I'm starting to think you did this to me on purpose. You knew how much I would hate it and just seized the opportunity to throw a little _more_ agony my way…' he mused, completely unaware of the person addressing him.

"Mr. Kusanagi? Inuyasha?" Kagome inquired gently, not really wanting to disturb the icy looking young man, but doing so anyway for the sake of a few more important matters.

"Huh?" he finally looked up and settled a harsh look on his face. "What?" he asked gruffly.

"Um…" the girl started more than a little uncomfortably, "can we get going? See it was a really long flight, and well, I…umm…"

"Well come on, spit it out already!" he barked.

"I have to go to the bathroom, okay?!" she finally exclaimed, much to the amusement of the older woman behind her.

Inuyasha looked dumbfounded as he shifted his gaze from the direction the cars had gone over to the girl standing a few feet away from him. He dazedly waved his arm towards the jeep, and reached for her only bag as she stepped over to the vehicle.

He shook his head as he turned to the jeep. 'What kind of girl would want to ride in a smelly, dirty, beat-up, bumpy…' he suddenly grinned evilly as he restated his earlier question. 'So, she has to go to the bathroom, huh?' He grinned wider as Kagome looked over to him from her seat in the jeep and mistook his grin as one of contentedness and smiled back.

"By the way, I almost forgot. This is Kaede," she said lifting a hand to the older woman getting in the back of the jeep. "She's here to help me get around the whole USO show madness." As he deposited her bag in the back of the jeep and nodded to Kaede, Kagome turned back to him and fixed him with the same dazzling smile that she had displayed in the photo he had of her.

His mischievous grin quickly disappeared from his face while she beamed at him. He forgot all previous thoughts of giving her a 'fun' ride to her quarters as they were replaced by a single thought that played through his mind as he started the jeep and drove off towards the Visiting Officers' Quarters.

'Wow,' he thought, 'Maybe brown's not such a bad color after all,' thinking of her eyes.


	2. Hidden Motives and Alleyway Interrogatio...

_Disclaimer__: I do not own Inuyasha™ nor do I own any of its characters or its original plotline. They are the intellectual property of Takahashi Rumiko and will remain so forever. My small claim on this work of fiction is in its creation of the alternate universe plotline, which I assert to the best of my knowledge to be an original product of my imagination. Any similarity to persons(other than the aforementioned characters belonging to Takahashi Rumiko) or events either real or previously imagined is completely coincidental and please excused._

* * *

With hooded eyes and the slightly disdainful and bemused expression that seemed a permanent feature of his face, he surveyed the scene before him.

'This seems more like a central switch office at a telephone company than an intelligence office,' he thought with more than a hint of rancor.

Men in grey and black uniforms sporting the distinctive symbol of their party bustled between desks and other men in uniform on their way to deliver field reports, radio intel, and coffee. Maps littered with pegs and ink markings were arrayed around the large room. It seemed like business as usual inside the Third Reich's main intelligence office.

"Herr Naraku." The man almost smirked when his name was called across the room. For a brief instant, all activity seemed to stop and glance his way. He was rather conspicuous in the room of tall Arian men, with there blond hair and blue eyes. His dark hair, short stature, black eyes, and a green uniform, very simply adorned—no medals, no indication of rank, no name plate, just a clear reminder of who he really worked for—set him apart from the rest of the men in the room quite easily.

His uniform did not sport his name. "Naraku," as it was at the current moment, was just another in a long string of aliases, code names. He had had many before that one, and a few since, but nobody had pinned him down yet with the current one, so he kept it. Among some of his "creations" that he hid himself behind in the past were "Onigumo," he had used that one for some time, but it had some painful memories for him, so he "killed" it; "Kagura" had been one of the rare times he had resorted to cross-dressing to gather intelligence and he liked it very little; "Kanna" had been one of his favorites so far. For "Kanna" he had been an entity without form; a ghost that could go anywhere and see anything, or at least, that was what the enemy had said of him. In truth, his ancestry held deep roots in the Shinobi clans of old, and his family still practiced ninjitsu as much as possible within their professions. His father had said that he had a rare gift for ninjitsu, and as far as he was concerned, he had used his gift extremely well thus far.

As he followed the German colonel that had addressed him before, he mused over his family. He had forgotten them—not momentarily, but permanently. After so many assumed identities and covers, assignments and lies, he couldn't even remember his own name. All he had were bits and pieces of a childhood learning the art of the shinobi, and a few small bits of wisdom left to him by his father. It didn't bother him much, but it did annoy him. He wished that if this were the way things were going to be, that he could get rid of the small pieces of his former self. Expel them from his body and mind, and just be a nameless, well most of the time, agent.

The large colonel that sat in front of him stirred him from his musings. "Herr Naraku, we have an assignment for you," he stated.

"Obviously," Naraku frowned. "I don't come to crowded places on a whim, and you know this. So, it was obvious you had something for me."

The colonel reached into a folder and removed an 8x10 photo. He held it up for Naraku to see.

"Kikyou…" Naraku whispered under his breath. How had they figured her out? He was sure he had placed the girl in such deep cover that if it weren't for the weekly drops, he himself would lose track of her. He would have to remove her from her current assignment and "train" her some more, he thought grimly.

The colonel continued: "This girl is an American of Japanese descent. She is currently touring the show circuit for the American troops. We would like you to try to capture and interrogate her near the end of her tour. It would be helpful to know what she knows."

Naraku shook his head…he had been wrong, Kikyou had not been discovered; however, he might remove her from her current assignment anyway. This could prove interesting.

"Her name?" he inquired. He would have to try to figure out if his plan would work by starting his own little intelligence gathering on this girl, and for that he would need a name.

"Her Americanized name is Kagome Higurashi. She has a strictly civilian background, as far as we can tell, though her brother has caused some damage to our Atlantic fleet in recent history." The Colonel winced inwardly. The U-boat the Higurashi male had destroyed had been carrying one of their more prominent Admirals who had insisted on being present for a raid on Allied shipping. The unexpected sinking of the boat had brought the wrath of the Fuehrer himself down on the intelligence division. The Admiral had been a close friend of the Fuehrer's, and he wanted to know why his friend had been so carelessly allowed to wander into the path of such a capable escort. The intelligence office had been baffled…from the reports of the spotter plane, all of the ship's brains should have been killed in the initial attack on the bridge of the ship. They had discovered only a week ago from American and British newspapers that the ship had been taken command of by a young junior officer. Who would have expected a junior officer to be so capable? Even the Fuehrer couldn't argue with that.

"Vital statistics?" Naraku prodded again.

"Approximately 5'6", athletic, black hair, brown eyes, measurements…unknown," the Colonel finished uncomfortably. He wasn't used to describing young women. Most targets of intelligence gathering were men, as women usually weren't entrusted with important details.

"I see…" the Japanese man trailed off. Nearly a perfect match for Kikyou, he thought. If I could just figure out how she acts in public, she might be able to pull this off. It would be difficult enough to get her to smile like that, though…she was trained to be submissive and docile, and absolutely invisible to those around her; trained to make such little impact when she entered a room that people would scarcely remember her existence when she left their presence. He had considered giving her the code name Kanna, but decided that the name was too well known, and might be connected to her true activities. He stood to leave, but the Colonel wasn't finished yet.

"Herr Naraku…why exactly is it you're here, again?" he asked, sounding almost afraid.

Naraku fixed him with his most contented grin, and grinned wider when the man squirmed in his chair—when Naraku was happy, you knew it was time to be afraid…of what, you weren't sure, but you knew nonetheless. "I am here, Herr Colonel, to provide your Fuehrer with diplomatic relations to the Emperor, as well as to assist your Intelligence office in any way I can," Naraku spouted the official line. The Colonel frowned at the answer and stood from his chair.

"As you say, Mein herr."

Naraku grinned at him again and bowed politely, leaving the office. Ah, why was he there, indeed? The question was a dangerous one, if he ever answered it truthfully. Fortunately he was well versed in lying. He had, of course, many ulterior motives for his current assignment. His first reason for remaining in the Reich was to keep an ear out for when the Germans were planning to move on Japan, as they undoubtedly would—their goal after all WAS world domination, just the same as Japan…eventually. His second reason followed closely on the tails of the first, and that was to gather all of the information he could on the impending betrayal of Japan so he could use it to rise to power, like standing on top of the tsunami as it rolled across his country Yes, he would twist everything around him to his advantage, manipulating all that crossed his path…it was amazing what you could make some people do if you had the right information. Yes, they were all just his little puppets; his pawns; his to do with as he pleased…just like Kikyou. 

Kikyou should be waiting for him at the drop now. He grinned at what her reaction would be to him removing her from her assignment. He knew she would visibly cringe at the thought of a complete debriefing—she almost always broke down like a baby. She wasn't always like that though, he remembered. When he had first acquired her, she had been unwilling to do anything—at all. He smiled remembering how he had broken her. It had taken a lot of work, but when he finally found out what the key to her sanity was he had gleefully (if that was possible for him) toyed with her for almost 24 hours, coming closer and closer to her secret, making her sweat. Naraku licked his lips in memory of the moment when he had told her what she had feared hearing most, and then the aftermath. She had listed all of the sick, twisted things she would agree to if he would only leave her secret just that—a secret.

Yes, he absolutely relished that memory. He continued in his little reverie as he walked to the drop—a train station in the middle of Berlin. Naraku knew from experience and what he considered infallible and obvious logic that the best place to hide was right out in the open. All of his drops were more or less in very public, busy places, as opposed to the bungling fools at the intelligence office he just left. All of the drops they organized were in dark, hardly visited places—perfect for a suspicious looking person in dark clothing to just walk in and out of without drawing attention to them. 

'Fools' he thought to himself. His drops were always very carefully choreographed with a lot of symbolic language and signaling. Kikyou was very skilled at non-verbal communication, which made her his favorite tool for most situations. He grinned slightly as he entered the train station and began scanning for her presence in the crowd.

There. He found her sitting on a bench, expressionless, staring up at the schedule board—or the mirrors that were situated on either side of it.

'Good girl,' he thought with a hint of approval, but a nevertheless condescending undertone.

He walked behind her where she could see him in the elevated, angled mirrors, looking back toward the door as if expecting someone he knew to come through them. The gesture was obvious to her: _Anybody following?_

She stood up and walked toward the pub inside the station greeting a tall, light haired gentleman on her way. Translation: _Yes_. If she had not greeted anyone, he would know that she had not been followed, if she had chosen a woman to greet, he would know that not only had she been followed, but it was someone she was acquainted with and knew by name.

Naraku simply kept walking toward the track after he had caught her message. As he stopped near the track doors to buy a newspaper, he caught her next signal.

Before entering the pub, she checked her reflection in the window and undid the bun she had her hair in, and then left it down: _Luring out the tail_.

Naraku grinned a feral, predatory grin and continued to read his newspaper, noting an article concerning the latest developments in the Italian peninsula. Apparently the combined Italian/German armies were able to push back the allied advance to into the mountains in South-central Italy, where they hoped to achieve air-superiority and bomb the British and American troops. Naraku shook his head some more. The fools kept walking into rooms that had more that one door for their enemies to come through. The mountains were where the elite American 10th Mountain Division had the advantage. Also, the American attack planes could disguise their engine noise and presence in the mountains with their low level flying, and thus sneak up on the advancing German forces, leveling them with bombs. German air-superiority was supposed to preclude that, but lately the Luftwaffe had been sustaining heavy casualties from the now standard American P-51 fighter, which was able to fly escort deeper into Europe thanks to advance air fields constructed by the Americans and British on their slow march up the Italian Peninsula. Daylight bombing raids flown from the same air fields was also slowing down production of the Luftwaffe planes reducing their numbers by twice, since they couldn't even replace the planes that were being destroyed. Naraku _tsked_ at the Fuehrer's apparent lack of comprehension of basic facts.

He looked up just in time to see Kikyou leaving the pub with her arm through a young dark haired gentleman's arm. Naraku grinned as followed them—the same grin from before.

Still taking non-verbal cues from Kikyou, like tosses of her hair, or waves of either hand, he followed them. She had already told him that she was letting him lead her somewhere, and that she would signal when she found the appropriate place to cause the 'accident.'

They walked for a time before they came to slightly less busy street with several outlets and alleys. Naraku sensed that this seemed to be what they were looking for—a rarely frequented street in the less affluent, to put it nicely, section of town. He reached for a knife he had stolen from a member of the German Underground—before it had been almost squelched, thanks to his intelligence, or lack thereof if you considered the fact that it still existed. He had left some alive for cases just like this, in order to have a scapegoat. Then the signal came.

She started to grin at something he had said, then flashed a brilliant smile at him at whispered something to him. Naraku quickened his pace to catch up with them. By the time he caught up to them, the man would be too distracted to notice. Kikyou meanwhile had pulled the man into an alley.

When Naraku arrived, Kikyou was facing away from the man, toward the back of the alley, leaving the man with his back to the street.

'Some tail this guy is. Doesn't even bother to watch for a tail on himself,' Naraku thought disdainfully.

The man had just started to fondle Kikyou, who stood motionlessly in front of him, when Naraku stabbed the man through the base of the neck, severing his spinal cord and larynx at the same time, effectively paralyzing and muting him. Naraku had an experienced surgeon's knowledge of the locations of blood vessels and nerve clusters. He performed the stab in such a way that it would cripple the man, but not kill him. It also kept bleeding to a minimum so that he could disguise the wound later in order to make it look like he had simply been stabbed brutally, not crippled for interrogation.

Naraku soon had all of the answers he needed out of the man. He had threatened to make him wait the full three and a half hours it would take to die of that extremely painful wound if he refused to answer, or he could give the answers quickly and die relatively painlessly. The man claimed, in the harsh rasp that remained without his vocal cords, that he had followed Kikyou in order to kidnap, rape, and murder her because she was a foreigner and not a part of the super-race that the Germans were trying to create. Naraku laughed at this, explaining to the man that his own dark hair excluded him from the super-race too. As that fact sank in, Naraku thanked him for his answers and very calmly stabbed him through the heart. After the man had ceased breathing, Naraku set about placing very brutal, but calculated stab wounds all over the man's body to disguise the true nature of his death.

Through all of this, Kikyou had stood quietly and stolidly just behind Naraku, not even flinching when the man had revealed what he had intended to do with her. She continued to stand by like a statue while Naraku brutalized the body. When he had finished he stood and brushed himself off, and finally addressed her.

"Your work here is finished. We'll return now for a debriefing."

And she shivered violently.


	3. Did I mention the fact that it's PINK!

_Disclaimer__: I do not own Inuyasha™ nor do I own any of its characters or its original plotline. They are the intellectual property of Takahashi Rumiko and will remain so forever. My small claim on this work of fiction is in its creation of the alternate universe plotline, which I assert to the best of my knowledge to be an original product of my imagination. Any similarity to persons(other than the aforementioned characters belonging to Takahashi Rumiko) or events either real or previously imagined is completely coincidental and please excused._

* * *

Despite forgetting about his earlier plan to favor Miss Higurashi with a 'fun' ride to go with her bladder problem, the ride was bumpy enough to get her upset, and put Inuyasha back into his previously mischievous mood. 

As he rounded a building a little faster than necessary, Kagome bit her lip and glared daggers at the dark haired young man. A small grin teased the corners of his mouth, having the effect of making her want to slap him silly.

'She'll be _really_ pissed when she finds out I took the long way…' thought Inuyasha grimly.

He slowed down just enough for the Jeep to stop swaying from side to side like a boat, and Kagome seemed to relax a little bit. He slowed to a stop outside her new living quarters and chuckled slightly as she ran into the locked door, desperately trying to reach a toilet. She turned and gestured to him, obviously wanting him to unlock the door.

He took his time grabbing her bag and making his way around the Jeep, stopping to help Kaede get out. When he finally opened the door for Kagome, she bolted straight to what she was sure was the water closet…a frustrated cry soon revealed she had been incorrect.

Three more frustrated cries later, a door slammed and all was silent.

Inuyasha carried the luggage in and set it on the floor in the middle of the main room, looking around as he did so. The VOQ was known to the enlisted men for being very posh and comfortable, yet what Inuyasha saw hardly brought that description to mind. These were the adjectives that immediately came to mind: dingy, dark, simplistic, musty, and most of all, OLD. He grinned inwardly, thinking that the officers must be more masochistic than he had originally thought. He dimly hoped that the stifling little house wouldn't wear on Kagome's spirit…whoops! Why should he hope that?

He continued to scratch his head in confusion to his own thoughts when Kagome re-entered the room a moment later.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd swear you did that on purpose," she challenged him.

Inuyasha smirked slightly, "Girl, _everything I do is purposeful."_

Kagome eyed him coldly before taking a step back and looking his appearance over. Inuyasha did not appreciate being sized up.

"Look, if you've got some problem with me, you can just go—" he started indignantly.

"You're uniform could use some work," she stated flatly.

"No shit! I only regained it this morning, bitch!" he exploded.

She visibly flinched at his outburst, and he was instantly sorry, but only muttered "keh!" 

"Well, what do you want to do about it?" he asked her, more calmly than before.

"For starters it needs to be pressed, then it could use some work on the brass…" he groaned inwardly—she seemed to be reading his list on what he knew was wrong with his uniform.

He interrupted her monologue by asking "Why do you care, anyway?"

"Well, if I'm going to have an escort, he's going to look good. Otherwise, nobody will take him seriously, and if nobody takes him seriously he'll lose confidence in himself, and if he loses confidence in himself he won't be able to do his job well, and since his job is to protect me, I thought it would be in my best interest to take care of him."

Inuyasha gaped. She had just rattled off all of the rationale that had ever been fed to him concerning why it was important for combat units to express professionalism and neatness. Being a former combat leader, he had been forced to learn about all of that. And he knew she was right.

"Hello? Kusanagi? What's wrong?" Kagome asked, slightly concerned.

Inuyasha shook himself out of his reverie. "All right, you win," he announced. "I'll take it to get pressed and polished before the show tonight."

"Not good enough," Kagome stated with a suppressed grin. This was going to be fun.

Inuyasha quirked an eyebrow. He didn't like the look the girl was giving him—like a cat eyeing a mouse. "What do you mean, not good enough?" he asked indignantly. "You don't trust me to get it done myself?"

"Nope."

His voice dripping with sarcasm, he retorted "Then what do you propose I do, Madame?" As he leaned into his exaggerated bow, he didn't see her reach for his wrist until it was too late. She dragged him before he could protest to the lavatory in the rear of the small house. When she literally swung him in and locked the door behind him, he was still too shocked to react. Had she just grabbed his wrist?

"Just who in the Hell does she think she is?" he thought aloud without realizing it.

"_I_ am Kagome Higurashi, at your service," she answered, her voice dripping with the same sarcasm that previously graced his.

"And what am I supposed to do in here?" he yelled angrily through the door.

"Hand me your uniform so I can give it to someone I _trust to get it pressed and polished in time for the show."_

"Right. And what am I supposed to wear in the meantime…I can't exactly spend all afternoon in the latrine," he complained.

"Have a look."

He peeked through the keyhole. "You're fuckin' joking!" he bellowed, rattling the door on its hinges.

Kagome feigned an offended tone. "Now now, this is one of my favorite robes. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it."

"Let me count the ways," Inuyasha retorted. "It's…it's…Pink; it's got frills; it's lacy; did I mention the fact that it's pink? Where are the pants? How about a shirt? A cap couldn't hurt either, you know…" he trailed off. He had become preoccupied with the door. The hinges were on HIS side…hmmmmm. The possibility of removing the pins from the hinges was a definite possibility. Just as he was reaching for his boot knife, he heard the unmistakable sound of furniture being scraped across the floor. He peeked through the keyhole again, only to find it blocked. "What the Hell?" was his eloquent inquiry.

"You got too quiet, so I figured you were up to no good," a muffled Kagome explained. "I'll only move the armoire out of the way if you give me your uniform so I can have Kaede go get it pressed and polished."

"Great," he muttered with no enthusiasm. 'I'll be screwed if I don't get out of here soon…' He wasn't exactly a genius, but he was smart enough to realize that this girl had him stuck between a rock and a hard place. What he couldn't figure out was how she had done it.

"Fine. You win," he yelled out to her as he started to get out of his uniform. "Bitch!" he threw in, just for good measure. He heard the armoire being shoved out of the way, and if he hadn't been down to his skivvies already, he would have made a break for it. Then he heard the key turn in the door, and the door cracked open, a hand appearing, outstretched to receive his clothing.

His grin grew wicked as an idea occurred to him. He suddenly reached for the hand and yanked towards the door. He heard a surprised yelp as the girl came slamming through the door, only to shriek at the state of his undress. She slapped him before it even occurred to him that he hadn't expected her to see him in his underwear. The effect of the slap was just starting to sink in as he started to wonder what he had been thinking. He dumbly handed his uniform over to the now cherry red girl with her back to him. He could hear a low chuckling outside the door. Inuyasha opened his mouth, but Kagome beat him to it.

"That's it Kaede. Yuck it up. I'm sure it's really funny to you. You don't have to deal with the emotional trauma that I will for the rest of my life." She said that last with a hint of a grin in her voice.

"AHEM!" Inuyasha cleared his throat loudly behind her. She almost jumped. She almost turned to face him, but stopped midway as a blush spread across her face. She instead held her arm out for him to drape his uniform on. She left the room momentarily, but was back hastily handing him the same pink robe she had displayed earlier.

Inuyasha coughed at it, but for the sake of modesty decided to put it on and wait out the storm named Kagome.

He entered the main living room as Kagome walked Kaede outside. They were talking low, but he caught a little bit of their conversation anyway. He did have superior hearing, after all.

"His presence is going to complicate things," came a voice that he could only assume was Kaede.

"That it will," responded Kagome nonchalantly.

"If you called Smith, I'm sure he could change the Private's orders…"

"No, that's all right. I get the feeling Kusanagi might be helpful if the need arises; but I still want to see his personnel file. Think you could manage that, Kaede?"

"Of course, child. What I'm more worried about is how to explain this to him."

"Well, we've got a week in England before we head off to more…gainful locations. I figure we'll cross the bridge when we come to it."

Kaede sighed. "If that's what you want to do. This is YOUR operation after all."

"Thanks, Kaede. Well, I guess you'd better get that taken care of. We wouldn't want my escort to show up in a pink, frilly, lacy…what else did he call it? Oh well, that robe just doesn't work for him."

At that, Kaede chuckled some more and apparently left. Inuyasha had just enough time to move to the chair in the middle of the room from the doorjamb he had been listening at, before Kagome returned.

As she entered the room he pulled his legs underneath himself, sitting cross-legged, and stuffing his hands in the sleeves of the robe, half crossing his arms. He then closed his eyes and listened to Kagome moving about the room, presumably unpacking. He was starting to toy with the idea of driving his jeep back to his barracks in the robe. If he drove fast enough, maybe no one would notice it was him…

"What are you doing, Kusanagi?" Kagome suddenly broke into his escape planning.

"I am planning my immediate withdrawal from hostile territory," he answered in his best contemplative tone.

"Hostile, huh? I'm not being half as hostile as I could be, you know." He grunted in a disbelieving manner. "As long as you're stuck here, we might as well get to know each other," she suggested.

He opened his eyes and stole a glance to where she was sitting on the chair across from him. Her luggage and disappeared, into her bedroom he assumed. She was sitting in a similar chair to his, giving him that same radiant smile as before. Instantly, he forgot his previous rancor and shrugged.

"What do you wanna know?" he asked casually.

"Well, I don't need your life story, but a little background would be nice. You know, where you're from, how old you are, where have you been…that sort of stuff."

"My name is Inuyasha Kusanagi, formerly Staff Sergeant turned Sergeant turned Corporal turned Private First Class of the United States Army, Europe…you want a serial number?" She shook her head, obviously wanting to know about the changes in rank. "If you want to know my career story, just read about it in the personnel file Kaede's bringing back for you."

At her sudden shock and dismay, he smirked, continuing, "I used to be a forward reconnaissance scout for the 82nd Division, a Pathfinder. I was chosen because of my unusually sensitive hearing and good eyesight." He stopped for a moment and looked at her out of the corner of his eye to make sure she understood that he had heard her little conversation with Kaede.

"I was born in the United States, but I never knew my parents…they died when I was very little. I've lived with my brother for most of my life in the San Francisco area of California." Kagome nodded at that. There was a large population of Japanese-Americans there—or at least there used to be until the internments. "When he joined the Army and went to Officer Candidate School, I had to live on my own for four years. I joined the Army six months before we got involved directly in the war, the day after my eighteenth birthday. So that would make me twenty years old now. I'll turn 21 on June 6th of this year. Your turn."

Kagome looked at him dumbly for moment, before he realized what he meant. "Oh! Umm…My name is Kagome Higurashi, and I'm from Chicago. My grandparents are from Japan, and my parents were born in the United States. My older brother and I grew up outside of the city. Souta signed up with the Navy the day after we were attacked…they finally let him join 6 weeks later. I've been singing since I was very young. I went to an audition for USO singers in Chicago nine months ago. After a lot of red tape and other stuff," she shifted slightly here, tipping him off that she was hiding something, "they finally agreed to give me a tour in Europe. I'll turn 20 this May 28th."

Inuyasha quirked an eyebrow at her. "That's it?" She nodded, but again shifted uncomfortably. "Well then. You sound normal enough, I guess." He heard the sound of footsteps outside, which he quickly identified as Kaede. Looking at his watch, he discovered it had been nearly an hour since they first arrived at the house, and nearly 45 minutes since Kaede left…he must have drifted off while he was meditating…odd, he'd never done that before. Especially around people he didn't know. What exactly was going on here?

Kaede walked in holding his freshly pressed uniform, which he quickly grabbed and leapt into the lavatory with. As he changed, he listened to the conversation taking place outside.

"Here it is, Kagome."

"Thank you, Kaede. I hope it wasn't to difficult to get hold of…"

"Nonsense child. The right credentials will get you anywhere without many questions being asked."

Credentials? What credentials did this woman have for her to be traipsing around the personnel office taking whatever she pleased? He decided that no amount of listening in on their conversation would help this time, since Kagome now knew to guard what she said if he was within earshot—an extended earshot for him. He entered the room they were in with robe in hand.

Kaede seemed slightly alarmed and tried to hide the file, but Kagome held to it firmly and shook her head, confusing the elderly woman. "Thanks for the robe," he said tossing across the chair he had been sitting in. Kagome muttered something along the lines of "don't mention it," in response.

"Enjoy the reading material—it's a good story if I do say so myself," he tossed over his shoulder as he walked out of the house to his Jeep. Silence reigned behind him, so he added one more thing before he started the Jeep.

"Pleasure getting to know you, Miss Higurashi."

He couldn't see it, but this brought a soft smile to her lips for reasons even she didn't understand.


	4. You Lecherous Sonuvabitch!

_Disclaimer__: I do not own Inuyasha™ nor do I own any of its characters or its original plotline. They are the intellectual property of Takahashi Rumiko and will remain so forever. My small claim on this work of fiction is in its creation of the alternate universe plotline, which I assert to the best of my knowledge to be an original product of my imagination. Any similarity to persons(other than the aforementioned characters belonging to Takahashi Rumiko) or events either real or previously imagined is completely coincidental and please excused._

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"So you see, being a combat Chaplain puts me in the line of fire more so than most regular soldiers. And being the last man alive in my family line leaves the responsibility of carrying on the family name to me, and one lucky lady, of course," the young man patiently explained to the dark-haired English girl beaming at him from beside him.

"Do you think I could…" she began, only to be interrupted by a loud shout from across the bar.

"Miroku! You lecherous bastard! Why didn't you tell me you were going to be on leave, you sonuvabitch?!"

At this, the young woman smiled and said, "You obviously have some old friends to catch up with. See you around, love," and waved goodbye as she walked out of the bar.

Miroku slapped himself on the forehead as Inuyasha made his way to him from across the room.

"If you were anyone else, you would never see the outside of this building again. I swear Inuyasha, you have the worst sense of timing and the least amount of tact I have ever seen."

"Yeah, well it hasn't gotten me killed yet, and has actually saved me a couple of times," Inuyasha responded coolly.

"Don't expect your luck to hold out forever," the chaplain laughed as the two buddies embraced.

"Well, it's been a long time my friend," Miroku gestured as they sat down. "Can I buy you a drink?"

"Yeah, what the hell!" came Inuyasha's enthusiastic response. "So, what have you been up to?"

"Actually, I'm being reassigned, and promoted." Miroku flashed his new silver rank at his friend.

Inuyasha whistled. "Wow, 1st Lieutenant, huh? I owe you a salute for that one." He stood up, snapped to attention, and whipped his arm up in a salute that was every bit as respectful as the salute to his brother had been sarcastic.

"Cut that out. I thought I gave you a standing order to never salute me…ever!" Inuyasha quickly sat down and took a drink of the beer that Miroku had bought him. "I'm being assigned to the 2nd Ranger Battalion." Inuyasha almost spit his beer all over the bar.

"You're what?"

"Yeah. Strange, isn't it? Who would've thought that little old me would be a Ranger someday?"

"But when was the last time they actually saw action?" Inuyasha inquired.

"Some time ago, but the down low is it's because they've been training for something big. And apparently they want me in on it," Miroku stated smugly.

"Yeah, I'm sure they requested you by name," Inuyasha retorted. He knew full well though that they couldn't have picked a more competent battlefield chaplain than Miroku. Like him, Miroku had been a Japanese-American living in a foster home for several years. Miroku's family had been in America for two generations before him, but since then, the men in his family had all died very young, due to war or crime. Miroku jokingly referred to it as the family's 'curse.' Of course, being a battlefield chaplain didn't help his odds of ending the curse much.

"What about you? I heard you slugged some captain or something. I thought you were iced this time for sure."

"So did I. My brother managed to bail me out and get me a third chance. It's no good though…this is possibly the worst assignment in existence," Inuyasha griped.

"Let's go for a drive," Miroku suggested. He wanted to hear about this one, but not in a crowded room. The two got up, leaving they're half finished beers on the bar.

Once outside, they headed for Inuyasha's jeep. "So what is it?" Miroku asked.

"Oh, it's bad. They've turned me into a fucking bodyguard!" Inuyasha ranted.

"For who? Some General? Churchill?"

"No. And this is the only good part of the assignment, by the way." As they climbed into the jeep, Inuyasha handed Miroku the file on Kagome. He flipped it open and whistled at the picture as Inuyasha started the jeep.

"Quite the dish," he said as they drove away.

"Yeah, and she's twice as beautiful in person; kind of a pill though. Still, overall she's a nice person," Inuyasha tried to express his mixed feelings about her. "Where are you staying, again?"

"The VOQ. Unit 37. So, what's she like? Is she first class celebrity snob?"

"No, I thought she was at first, but it turns out she's a lot like us," Inuyasha described his impressions of the girl. Something was bothering him though—Unit 37…why did that sound familiar? "Did you notice her last name?"

"Higurashi? Yeah…is she related to that guy in the Atlantic from the newspaper? I just read about it this morning—we haven't gotten news in Italy for several months now."

"She's his younger sister." Inuyasha was started to get a feeling of déjà vu as he turned past a very familiar building.

"Wow, that's quite a family. So how long are you guarding her for?"

"Probably until her tour is finished, or until somebody takes mercy on me and either shoots me in the foot or sends me stateside…" he trailed off. A sudden foreboding feeling settling in his stomach as he now realized why everything had seemed so familiar. Kagome was in Unit 38! Oh, this was going to be great…

They pulled up to Miroku's quarters and got out. Inuyasha was trying to figure out how to make sure Miroku didn't go on midnight peeping missions on his next-door neighbor when Kagome suddenly appeared outside her bungalow heading straight for them.

She started to ask "Kusanagi? What time-" she was cut off as Miroku suddenly dropped to his knees grasping her hand. Inuyasha raised his hand to his temples, knowing what was coming.

"Miss Higurashi, I am Miroku. I am in desperate need of your help." He paused for effect, and when she raised her eyebrows in confusion he continued: "Would you do me the honor of bearing my child?"

Kagome looked like she was going to explode she had turned so red. Before she could seriously rob the man's ability to produce an heir, Inuyasha grabbed his officer friend by the collar of his jacket and hauled him to his feet, out of Kagome's striking distance. Glaring at him pointedly, he then turned his attention back to Kagome. When she shot him a confused and questioning look, he felt compelled to explain.

"He's a lech," he said simply.

"There really is more to the story than that!" Miroku protested from behind Inuyasha.

Kagome shrugged and picked up where she had left off. "Kusanagi, I was wondering…" only to be interrupted again, this time by Inuyasha.

"Please don't call me that. It's not me real name." At yet another confused look, he explained more: "That's just the name given to me and my brother by the State of California. After all, we couldn't join the military without a last name." She nodded in agreement, and then he went on. "I prefer to think that I don't have a last name, and I only respond to that name in formations and battle. The rest of the time I'd prefer people call me by my only real name: Inuyasha."

To that, she smiled and began, yet again. "Inuyasha, I was wondering…what time will you be back to escort me to the show?"

Inuyasha looked at his watch, considering. It was 1400 now, and the show started at 1800. She should probably be there about an hour early, so…"I'll be back to pick you up at 1700—sorry, that's-" he got cut off.

"Five o'clock PM, I know. Thank you, and I will see you then, Inuyasha." She gave him a small smile as she went back inside her house. Suddenly, she came back out. "Weren't you supposed to be confined to your barracks after you brought me here?"

"Keh. Yes, but by the time I left because of your uniform fiasco, it was too late anyway. So, I figured since I was already in trouble, why not enjoy myself?"

"Oh…" Kagome looked guilty for a moment. "I'm sorry to have gotten you in trouble, Inuyasha."

"I probably wouldn't have gone back anyway…besides, if they really want to throw the book at me, I'll just tell them it was your fault." He smirked at this last, wondering if she would know he was only joking.

"Oh…alright," she said quietly. Then she brightened. "See you at five, er…seventeen hundred, I mean, Inuyasha!" Then she went back in the house.

Miroku only gaped at Inuyasha. "So let me get this straight: you have to follow a beautiful girl all around the allied bases in Europe, play guard dog for her en route, and watch her at shows to make sure she doesn't get hurt, and you're _complaining_?"

"Yeah…" Inuyasha replied, sounding half-asleep. "Huh? You bet your ass I'm complaining! I should be in Italy with my buddies! This assignment is bullshit—soldiers aren't supposed to protect individuals, they're meant to fight for a cause and for each other, dammit!" His argument seemed to lack the conviction it had had earlier when he recited it to himself, though, before he had met Kagome. Miroku shook his head and turned towards the building.

Inuyasha followed his friend, who was still shaking his head, through the door to Unit 37. He decided this might be his opportunity to ask for help. "Miroku, do you still have that friend in the War Department?"

"Who, Myouga? Yeah, they've probably shuffled him into the basement to guard archaic files or something by now. Why do you ask?"

Inuyasha paused, considering for a minute. Well, no sense mincing words: "Something is funny about Kagome and her 'assistant.' I've heard off hand references to some kind of authority they wield, and something about a mission that I'm complicating, but am going to be sticking around for anyway."

"Hmmm…I love when women are mysterious like that…" Inuyasha cleared his throat loudly to snap his friend out of his reverie. "Well, um, I suppose they didn't just discuss this in front of you openly, particularly that part about you complicating their 'mission,' did they?" Inuyasha gave him a negative shake of his head. "Well, I think it's safe to say that they are obviously not the routine USO routine. In fact, that whole setup might just be a cover."

"Yeah, but for what?" Inuyasha asked more to himself than Miroku.

"I guess we'll have Myouga check on that for us. I'll give him a call from the Colonel's office later today—more secure that way. Meanwhile," he started with a twinkle in his eye, "it sounds like you've got a busy night ahead of you, my friend."

Inuyasha let loose a growl and reached back to slug Miroku before he was halted by the "Holy Man's" tone. "Temper, temper Inuyasha. After all, hitting a 1st Lieutenant is only one step below hitting a Captain…wouldn't want to ruin your third and last chance, would we now." Inuyasha calmed slightly—or at least appeared to. Then without warning slapped Miroku a little to hard on the back before calling out over his shoulder as he walked toward the door, "Ya damn pervert. Someday you'll find somebody who's your equal, and then you'll be fucked!" Inuyasha had admonished him for his lechery, but was laughing as he did so.

"Boy do I ever hope so," sighed Miroku. Inuyasha's ears couldn't help but pick that up, and he started to chuckle despite himself. Miroku echoed his laughter and called out his goodbyes as Inuyasha started the jeep and called back.

"Oh, and by the way, if I find out you went within twenty feet of Kagome's quarters, I won't care about getting another chance—I'll skin you alive!"

Miroku chuckled knowingly: the poor guy had it bad. Hadn't even known the chick for a day and already he was treating her like she was, at worst (at least in Miroku's point of view) his fiancée, and at best (Miroku liked this theory better, but it didn't lessen the seriousness Inuyasha's threat at all) his little sister.

=@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@=

"Excuse me, Lieutenant. Mrs. Dobbs requires my assistance. I'll be back shortly." The Colonel excused himself and then left. Hopefully, Mrs. Dobbs would be able to keep him busy the full fifteen minutes he had asked for. Mrs. Dobbs certainly seemed capable and, more importantly, willing to do that for him. Miroku smirked at himself; 'Yes, Miroku you devil, you've still got it.'

He reached for the phone as he heard Mrs. Dobbs and the Colonel leave the outer office. "Hello, operator? This is 1st Lieutenant Miroku Takeda. Yes, I am calling from Colonel Matheson's office. Well, he had to leave unexpectedly and asked for me to make this call for him. Thank you. Could you please connect me to the War Department Records Division? Yes, Mr. Myouga Saitou. Thank you very much, and have a good day, Miss." The elderly woman on the other end of the line had to be in her sixties or seventies, but last minute flattery never hurt. Implying that she sounded much younger than she was a sure-fire way to make sure she didn't feel the need to report the odd call. A few seconds later, the line buzzed, telling him that the call had gone through. An jittery voice picked up a moment later.

"Hello?" it asked quickly, nervously.

Miroku silently cursed. If Myouga was having another one of his fits of paranoia, this might take days…

"Myouga jii-chan! This is Miroku! How are you?"

"Well, I suppose, under the circumstances…"

"What's wrong?" Miroku feigned concern.

"They're at it again," he replied nervously. "The other day, one of those huge wooden shelves nearly crushed me when it collapsed. I warned them that it would buckle under the weight, but they insisted that I file the box on _that_ particular shelf. I don't know if they were just following orders, or if they were acting on their own, or…"

"Myouga! I need some help."

"Heh! So do I…"

"Myouga, we've been through this before…why would anyone want you eliminated—you've worked there for three decades! Besides, they can't get rid of you, you're the only one who can find anything in there."

"That's why I'm worried…they've got me training an 'assistant.' His name is Jaken, and I don't like him…he's much too interested in learning how my filing system works."

"But Myouga, you don't _have a system! You just put things around randomly and remember where you put it!"_

"And right now that's the only reason I'm still alive."

Miroku let out an exasperated breath. He'd have to hurry up—the Colonel was due back soon.

"Myouga, look I need some help. I need you to look up any records concerning a 'Kagome Higurashi.' Can you do that for me?"

"Oh sure, sure…a whole flood of that 'Higurashi' stuff came through here a few weeks ago after that incident in the Atlantic. But I thought his name was 'Souta?'"

"No, no. This is his sister. She's in England on a supposed USO tour, but there's something more to it than that."

"I'll look, I don't remember any boxes with the name 'Kagome,' but the sneaky bastards might have snuck it in with all of her brother's records…they like to do that you know…"

Miroku swore silently, again, as he heard Mrs. Dobbs voice from down the hall—they were coming back. "Look, Myouga I'd love to chat but I've got to go. Arigato Gozaimasu!" With that he hung up, no doubt leaving Myouga very peeved back in Washington. He heard the door to the outer office swing open and Mrs. Dobbs exclaim in surprise to stall the Colonel a moment longer. Thinking quickly, he connected to the operator again.

"Hello, operator? This is Takeda again. Could you connect me to the Colonel's wife? He wanted me to ask her something." She quickly complied and he thanked his father and grandfather for passing down the smooth tongue trait that allowed him to win people's trust so quickly.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Mrs. Matheson? This is 1st Lieutenant Miroku Takeda. Your husband had to run an errand and wanted me to call and ask you what you were preparing for dinner this evening? Yankee Pot Roast? He'll be very pleased, ma'am. If it tastes half as good as it smells through the phone, ma'am, I'm positive he will be smitten with you for the rest of his life. Thank you, ma'am…you have a good evening too." Miroku put the phone down just as the Colonel walked back into the office.

"What the Hell were you just doing?" the Colonel asked briskly.

"Sir? Oh! Your wife called while you were out, sir. She wanted me to let you know that she was making Yankee Pot Roast for dinner, and that it should be done in about an hour." The man eyed him suspiciously. "I apologize if I overstepped my bounds, but I wanted to make sure it wasn't a superior calling, and I supposed it would have been better if it looked as if you had left someone in charge of your office, rather than just leave it unattended. There is a war on, after all, sir."

The Colonel's face softened as he muttered his gratitude. As the meeting picked up where it had left off, Miroku couldn't help but grin. That last compliment to Mrs. Matheson was enough to fluster her to the point that when asked, she wouldn't be able to remember if she had called him, or if he had called her. Miroku's grin widened. 

'_Damn_ I'm good.'


	5. What's that smell?

_Disclaimer__: I do not own Inuyasha™ nor do I own any of its characters or its original plotline. They are the intellectual property of Takahashi Rumiko and will remain so forever. My small claim on this work of fiction is in its creation of the alternate universe plotline, which I assert to the best of my knowledge to be an original product of my imagination. Any similarity to persons(other than the aforementioned characters belonging to Takahashi Rumiko) or events either real or previously imagined is completely coincidental and please excused._

_A/N: Okay, so I lied…that last A/N wasn't the only one ever, but they will be very few and far in between. This one is in reference to my claim of 'no fluff.' It seems I did not entirely understand the meaning of the term, so I apologize for my misuse of the word and any further violations of my claim. Perhaps it would have been better for me to say that I would not be writing any 'sappy romance scenes,' including lemons and limes and whatever other names they go by. There is a romantic edge to this story, but as I said before, it will be from a male point of view—i.e. no swooning or deep sighs. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed the story so far—you have no idea how scared I was of even writing this story, much less posting it on the internet. Your encouragement and constructive criticisms have sealed the deal; this story will not go dead in the water. Domo arigato gozaimasu!  
  


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Inuyasha spent the rest of the afternoon trying to sort out what exactly had happened to his perfect life. Being quick to act and defend his friends (the few that he had) as a child, usually with his fists, he had always seen himself in the military. He remembered going to 4th of July parades and watching the soldiers in their uniforms march down the street. He had even imitated them once when he was too young know any better, and the soldiers had made room for him in the ranks. He had marched with them for nearly a block through downtown San Francisco before Sesshoumaru had found him and pulled him out of the parade, admonishing him for being disrespectful. Inuyasha had never figured out if he had meant to the soldiers, to Sesshoumaru, or to their foster parents. It was shortly after that that he had found the pictures of their father in his uniform.

As a young man, Inuyasha's father had been an officer in the Japanese Imperial Army. For some unknown reason, he had been forced to flee Japan and come to America, where he met Sesshoumaru's mother. Sesshoumaru didn't even know why because he had been too young, but a couple of years after he was born his mother had died very suddenly. By the time he was old enough to ask what had happened, their father had already remarried to Inuyasha's mother, and Sesshoumaru refused to speak to him for betraying his mother. Once more, tragedy struck the family, this time taking both the mother and father. Sesshoumaru knew what had happened, but refused to tell Inuyasha out of spite. The only thing he did tell Inuyasha was that their father's dying wish was for Sesshoumaru to protect himself and Inuyasha.

Inuyasha shook his head to stop the growl that was building in his throat. He was lying on his bunk in his barracks. Thoughts of his past always seemed to come back to haunt him, it seemed, no matter what he was thinking of. He closed his eyes once again and regained his earlier train of thought.

His future in the Army had been brilliant. When he joined, the Army physical had revealed his near superhuman senses of hearing, sight, and, oddly, smell. With his superior physical fitness and resilience, evidenced by a history of broken limbs but with no chronic problems or even marks on his bones where healing had occurred, he had been offered a chance to join the Paratroop Corps. He had eagerly accepted and completed training in record time. It took an average of eight weeks to complete parachutist school, but he had finished in three. He had grasped the concepts so quickly and fully that he had been promoted to Corporal (since he had entered as a PFC) and sent to reconnaissance school so that he could be a scout locate drop zones in or near enemy territory without being found. After completing reconnaissance school, he was promoted a Sergeant and made an instructor for the Paratroop Corps.

Two months later, he was called to an emergency muster on a balmy Sunday evening in December. When he arrived, he already knew what it was about. He had been listening to the reports from Hawaii on the radio, a loathing of his father's uniform and country suddenly settling in his intestines. The Paratroop Corps was being reorganized, he learned, and he would be going to Europe as a part of the 82nd Airborne Division, as soon as the orders were handed down. These same orders also promoted him to Staff Sergeant for his exemplary leadership and training abilities. He arrived in Europe and spent many months in England, training for upcoming operations. That was when he had met Miroku.

Miroku had gone through OCS the same way Sesshoumaru had, but instead of branching Advocate General to be a lawyer, Miroku had entered the Chaplain Corps. The two became fast friends.

Inuyasha smiled at the memories, and then checked his watch: 1630. 'I should head over to pick up Kagome,' he thought, and with a grunt jumped off of his bunk and headed for the jeep sitting outside.

Getting in and starting the engine, he drifted back to his thinking. His first "incident" had involved Miroku. The two had decided to go to a club during non-duty hours—otherwise they would be in uniform and officers and non-commissioned officers were not supposed to socialize. One of the gentlemen in the club had gotten belligerent at the sight of the two Japanese men sitting at the bar, laughing and enjoying themselves. He had stomped over to them and threatened them, which Miroku responded to with diplomacy and understanding at the man's rage. Inuyasha was having less success with a diplomatic reaction, but restrained himself nonetheless. 'How dare this man accuse us of being traitors!' he had thought, but kept it to himself. When Miroku thought he had calmed the man down enough, he signaled Inuyasha that they should leave. When they stood up however, the man raised his fist. Inuyasha had heard the shifting of the man's shirt and pushed Miroku out of the way of getting cold cocked, taking the blow himself. He was prepared for it though and soon returned in kind—but much harder. The man was out cold and snoring softly when the MPs had arrived to take Inuyasha to the brig. 

It had taken a week to sort out, but when it was all over, the cards played out like this: the man Inuyasha had struck turned out to be a Major, and even though he wasn't in uniform, it laid the charges of 'Insubordination' and 'Disorderly Conduct' at Inuyasha's feet. The only thing that saved him from a court-martial was the fact that the Major had been at fault—a fact which everyone at the club had attested to—and was hit with 'Conduct unbecoming of an officer,' 'Assault,' and 'Bigotry,' which Sesshoumaru had made sure was thrown in for good measure. The Major received an early retirement, and Inuyasha was demoted to Sergeant.

'What I wouldn't give to be back in _those shoes right now,' he thought bitterly. A sergeant's life was infinitely better than a private's life, at least in his mind. Then he chuckled a little bit, remembering when he had waved goodbye to the retired Major, who responded only by turning away and storming out of the room. The next day, they were told they would be going to Sicily._

It had taken a couple of months for the plans to actually come together, but eventually they were all packed like sardines into the C-47 cargo plane flying across the Mediterranean towards their intended drop zone: the city of Salerno.

His reminiscing was interrupted when he arrived at Kagome's quarters. He shut off the jeep and collected him self, dusting off his very nicely pressed jacket, before knocking on the door. He checked his watch: 1645. He smirked remembering what they had told him about punctuality: _'If you're early, you're on time; if you're on time, you're fuckin' late!' It hadn't seemed funny at the time because he was being yelled at for arriving to formation at the exact time he had been told, but when he thought on it later, it was actually fairly humorous._

Kaede answered the door and gave a slight bow, to which he found himself doing the same thing.

"Kagome is not quite ready yet, Private Kusanagi, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you came in to wait."

"Thank you, Kaede. Please, don't call me Kusanagi—it's not my real name. Call me Inuyasha."

Kaede smiled slightly and then let him in leading him to the chair he sat in earlier in the day. "If you'll please wait here while I finish helping Kagome get ready?"

"Certainly," he answered.

As Kaede left the room, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath—and stopped suddenly. He felt light-headed and somewhat dizzy as he looked in the direction the smell was coming from: the bedroom Kaede had gone into, presumably Kagome's. It wasn't unusual for pleasant smells to come from a girl's room, but he couldn't place this one. It didn't have any scent of alcohol, so it wasn't perfume, and it certainly didn't have a 'fruity' smell like berry extract that would be used similarly to perfume…what the hell was it? He was still trying to figure it out when both women emerged from the room. He straightened and looked toward the door, having to fight the urge to ogle for the second time that day.

When Kagome emerged, it was as if the picture had come to life. The only difference was, she didn't look made up like she had in the picture—she looked as if this were the way she always looked, but had to put make up _on_ to cover her true appearance.

Inuyasha found himself standing up, against his will, still staring, also against his will. Kagome blushed slightly at his stare, but hid it quickly. "Is the car here then, Inuyasha?"

'The car? The car! Oh shit, I forgot…I can't drive her to the show in a jeep!' he panicked inwardly. "Let me go check," he said quickly heading outside to drive to the motor pool. 'I hope Sesshoumaru has everything ready to go…' he stopped when he opened the door, only to find a black Rolls Royce parked in front of his jeep, driver waiting patiently inside. He turned dumbly to go back inside. 'I guess I'm not supposed to drive her…' he thought dazedly.

"Umm…the car is here," he told a patient Kagome and Kaede once back inside. The nodded and followed him out. He opened the door for them to get in, and then started to get in the front.

"Inuyasha, there's room for you back here," Kagome said invitingly.

"No, thank you. I'm fine up here," Inuyasha responded coolly. Kagome stayed quiet the rest of the trip, while Inuyasha conversed a little with the driver, then closed his eyes and appeared to sleep.

When they arrived, Inuyasha got out and opened the door on Kagome's side to let the two women out. Kagome smiled brightly at him when she got out, but he hid his reaction in an effort to get into his 'professional soldier' mood. He followed them into the 'dance hall,' seating himself at a table near the stage where he intended to stay the rest of the night until it was time to take Kagome back to her house. He crossed his ankles, reclined and closed his eyes, intending to look asleep while he was alertly scanning the room with his ears. He heard Kagome disappear through a door and come back out a few moments later, and then walk onto the stage.

'This should be good,' Inuyasha thought. 'She can't be beautiful _and_ have an incredible voice too, right? Especially if this is all just a cover for some mission or something…'

He heard her amplified mutter from the microphone, "Oh, I wish I would get some new songs every now and again…I don't even like this one" He snickered a little, but remained otherwise unaffected. Then he heard the phonograph start playing the background so she could practice. His eyebrows rose slightly as he heard 'You Made Me Love You' start playing. He agreed with her; that song wasn't particularly appealing to him either. It didn't make any sense. How could you make someone love you? He supposed you could change someone's opinion of you, but that usually involved changing something about you, not making them do something. Besides, changing yourself for someone else was stupid—if they don't like you the way you are, they can just go to hell! He shook his head—at least the opening in this version wasn't half bad—it had more of a swing to it.

He was interrupted from his thoughts as Kagome's voice suddenly emanated from the speakers and floated across the room.

_You made me love you, I didn't want to do it_

_I didn't want to do it._

_You made me want you, and all the time you knew it,_

_I guess you always knew it…_

Inuyasha's opinion of the song changed dramatically as Kagome continued singing. He sat up a bit straighter and opened his eyes to watch the increasingly impressive girl on stage before him. For once he was enjoying being wrong.

Not only was her voice beautiful, but she was very expressive with her facial expressions and body language—smiling at just the right moment, winking at invisible audience members, swaying back and forth in time to the music. Inuyasha couldn't help but marvel at the talent this girl possessed. 'I'll bet,' he thought bitterly, 'that she would be a professional singer, maybe an actress, if she weren't of Japanese descent.' Selfishly, he then thought that if she were a professional, he would probably have never met her. He quickly buried that thought, however, and returned to his previous reclined position as Kagome ended the song and the band took the stage to help her rehearse.

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Two hours later, Kagome took her first break and sat down at the table Inuyasha and Kaede shared near the stage.

"You two certainly look like you're enjoying yourselves," she observed sarcastically. Kaede looked almost asleep, and Inuyasha looked nearly catatonic.

Inuyasha shook himself from his third ogle of the day—this one had lasted the duration of Kagome's last performance of 'The Man I Love'—and noted, a little perturbed, that they were becoming more and more frequent. From the multitude of flattering and neutral responses to the statement she had made, he settled for the simplest one.

"Keh!"

"Aw…poor soldier boy Inuyasha isn't enjoying himself." Inuyasha scowled at the untruth of the remark, and also the gleam that was developing in her right eye—it made him nervous. "Can he dance?" Inuyasha shook his head so vehemently that even his close cropped hair seemed to sway. "Well, perhaps he can be taught—he certainly doesn't _look like an old dog, so he should be able to learn at least one new trick." She smiled brilliantly again, leaving Inuyasha searching for words he knew existed, but couldn't remember, also for the third time that day._

She stood up and held out her hand, which Inuyasha hesitantly took. Kagome then lead them out into the middle of the 'dance hall'—it was actually a vacated hangar with a hastily installed dance floor. Inuyasha flinched when his hard-soled shoes tapped on the hardwood dance floor—he had never been so scared in his life. The band leader announced something to the effect of "Let's get hoppin'!" and the band launched into a perfect imitation of Glenn Miller's 'In the Mood.' Kagome began instructing Inuyasha.

"Okay, now just watch my feet, and mirror my steps…good! You picked that up quick…okay, now just get in the rhythm, and hold my hands like this." She paused for a moment to show him, and then he took over. "Great! Now, just raise your arm when you want me to spin in either direction, and I'll take care of the rest."

They continued dancing through the song, Inuyasha picking up the step very quickly, and growing more and more pleased with the envious looks other soldiers were sending him. When Kagome tried to do an inside spin into the cuddle, he almost dropped her hands, but she squeezed and he didn't let go. The looks of envy became murderous, and Inuyasha started sweating—suddenly he was nervous, but not because of the eyes on him and Kagome. A strange scent hit him, and he started to feel a little better—apparently Kagome was nervous too. She came out of the cuddle and made her steps smaller as the music got quieter, all the while grinning at Inuyasha, who finally started to grin back, much to her delight.

"Okay, when the end of the song comes, you're going to dip me," she explained.

"I'm going to what?!" he asked incredulously. He had never even _thought_ of dancing with a girl, much less did he expect to be actually doing it for the first time with a partner who seemed to foolishly trust him implicitly.

"It's not that hard, Inuyasha. You'll know when the end is coming—the notes start low and very quickly get high and loud and then they all play the same note. Just try to do it on that last note, okay?" Inuyasha nodded slightly, and then widened his steps as the music got loud again.

The moment came, and he almost panicked and decided not to, but rethought quickly. 'You've faced worse than this before! Go for it!' As she leaned back into his arm, she smiled a delighted and surprised smile. He wasn't sure what to make of it, but grinned slightly as the note finished, and then stood her up.

"You did great!" she said as she regained her balance. "Excellent for a first timer—unless you lied to me…" She gave him a suspicious look.

"I've never been on a dance floor before in my life," he swore solemnly, even holding his hand up as he did so. "I'm just very adaptable. I tend to learn things very quickly."

Kagome laughed, "Alright, alright, I believe you. But we need to have a talk later anyway, about your service record." He frowned at her, but she only replied, "For right now, let's just dance—it's so nice to be down here, for once. Everything looks so different from up on stage."

The band director launched into yet another perfect imitation of a Glenn Miller song, this time 'American Patrol.' Inuyasha turned to see the band after he had his feet moving again, and realized the reason for the very familiar songs: the band leader actually _was Glenn Miller. He seemed to be having loads of fun, judging by the smile on his face that would have stretched the imagination if it got any bigger._

Inuyasha and Kagome danced in silence this time. Inuyasha's timing and rhythm improving with every step, and Kagome began to wonder if there was anything he couldn't do—he seemed to be full of surprises, and even with the sparse amount of information in his file, he seemed to have proven himself as a very capable soldier.

Inuyasha knew the song—it was one of his favorites, so he was able to anticipate the changes and stops pretty well and timed his dancing to them. He stole glances occasionally to try and pick up some moves from the other couples dancing around him. He tried spinning her from one hand to the other with his arms outstretched near the end of the song, and Kagome seemed surprised, but impressed.

"Well, you really are a quick learner! I hadn't even taught you that one yet, but you seem to have it down."

"Thanks," Inuyasha replied, fervently hoping for a break soon. He could carry 80 pounds on his back through rough terrain for hours, but dancing was quickly taking a toll on him. He breathed a sigh of relief when the music started up again and was slow and quiet this time.

Then he looked around—he had forgotten one small detail: slow song means dancing closely. He looked at Kagome, who was giving him an expectant look, and swallowed slowly. Suddenly, he'd much rather face a company of under-fed, angry Germans than be on this dance floor. 


	6. I Really, Really Hate That Guy

_Disclaimer__: I do not own Inuyasha™ nor do I own any of its characters or its original plotline. They are the intellectual property of Takahashi Rumiko and will remain so forever. My small claim on this work of fiction is in its creation of the alternate universe plotline, which I assert to the best of my knowledge to be an original product of my imagination. Any similarity to persons(other than the aforementioned characters belonging to Takahashi Rumiko) or events either real or previously imagined is completely coincidental and please excused._

_A/N: First off, let me just let all of you who have reviewed thus far that your responses have helped me a lot. Niamh (and others)--thanks for the heads up on the misspellings. I proofread, but sometimes I get too wrapped up in re-analyzing the plot that I miss things like that--feel free to email me and let me know if I mess up anymore. My parents were both editors for a newswire, so I think I have a genetic tendency to hate spelling and grammar errors (especially by me). Nassau--it would be an interesting turn, wouldn't it? I wonder how I could work that in..._

_Also, just a quick note so as not to offend anyone: In this chapter I have included a reference to a true life historical character. The reference, however, is not exactly flattering, but in no way represents my opinion of the actual person. The real person was actually a very well accomplished and honorable individual and I wish to express that I mean no dishonor whatsoever to her memory by her role in the story--I just strive for realism as much as I can when dealing in historical fiction, so I thought fit to include her in my story._

_Along the same lines, a less than flattering comment is made about American women in general. Once again, this in no way reflects my personal opinion of this group--on the contrary, being from the US, my opinion is in complete contradiction to the statement made in the story. With that said, if you are still offended, please feel free to visit my homepage and send me an email, I will apologize profusely if necessary. Now, on with the show..._

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He was doing it again.

She tried to hide the emotions building up inside her, and succeeded—for the moment. It was a never ending struggle when he was around. She always had to hide herself, try to remain just business. But she knew better than that.

The swing music played in the background as he continued to stare at her, waiting. Waiting for her to begin, or end, or breakdown—she didn't know. All she knew was that the moment she did anything, all hope would be lost for her. He would make sure of that fact.

Naraku always managed to extinguish even the slightest spark of hope and life in her.

Her weakness was everything about her. He knew exactly where to twist her so that she would break down. The longer she worked for him, the easier it was for him to do. She knew that someday he would eventually break her so completely that she would be gone forever. She just hoped that that day would come sooner, rather than later.

Her life since age sixteen had been one long, drawn out wound. A wound that never seemed to stop bleeding, and bled faster still everyday. In an effort to prolong her lapse of sanity and clarity before she broke down yet again, she thought of her life, and what it would feel like when it was finally over.

Until she had turned sixteen, she had had a perfect childhood. Her parents were loving, they were nurturing to the point of spoiling her, they raised her to be polite and courteous—she had loved her parents dearly, quite sure that no more perfect parents existed anywhere in the world. That is, she loved them until her sixteenth birthday, when she found out they weren't her real parents.

She had been trying to sneak around and discover the secret surprise that was being planned in her honor—she stumbled upon something much more damning instead. As she rounded a corner in the ornate house, she could hear the raised voices of her parents:

"She becomes a woman today! She should know—at least we can give her that…"

"No! Dammit, Kori, we were given specific instructions that we were never to reveal her true parents! If she knew, she'd probably seek her mother out, and then she would die for being what she is. Is that what you want? Do you want Kikyou, the closest thing to a daughter we've ever had, to be taken from us? I won't stand for it—I couldn't bear the guilt. Not from me, not from you, and certainly not from Empress Nagako. Do you want to be the one responsible for Nagako's daughter's death?"

At this point, she had burst in on her 'parents' in tears, demanding to know what they were talking about, or that she would leave. They told her—and that was the first time she was broken. Her true mother was Empress Nagako, who had had a love affair at a young age. Kikyou was the product of that love affair—the illegitimate child that was to have been killed at birth, by the order of the Emperor. No one was to know of his Empress' infidelity. Nagako couldn't bear the thought of killing an innocent child, however, and had her daughter hidden immediately after birth. Very little was known of her father—all she was able to find out was that he was gone. She ran that day, and she had been running since.

She spent the next three years on the streets, almost unwilling and unable to live with the shame of her conception. She vowed revenge against her father for making her what she was. The fires of revenge stoked during the day kept her warm at night—until Naraku found her.

She had been living as a street urchin, lying and stealing from anybody she could convince to trust her. She actually had lived a fairly healthy existence, staying with the people who were gullible enough to take her in, eating her fill until the opportunity presented itself. The next time they left for any period of time, the house was stripped of its most valuable assets. When she became too well known in one city, she would relocate with the help of some 'generous' person's contribution to her wealth. Naraku had caught up with her in Kyoto, and at first she had thought he was the police. He said he had a job for her, but she didn't care—she knew she wasn't worth much to anybody, except maybe dead. She refused to cooperate, so he had kidnapped her, and spent nearly a week interrogating and torturing her. She had become so calloused to pain though, that she'd hardly blinked throughout the entire process.

Until one day, when Naraku came for her with a self-satisfied smile, firmly in place on his smug face. He toyed with her for hours, telling her he knew who she was, that she was finished, he didn't even need her anymore. After all, who would want anything to do with the Empress' illegitimate love child? All she would bring would be death. Kikyou was strong-willed however, and held on to her sanity for nearly a day of Naraku's sadistic psychological torture. Then she broke for the second time.

She would have agreed to anything—it was the thought of her foster parents that finally pushed her over the edge. They deserved no punishment for her dishonor—all they ever were was kind and caring for her. So she did his bidding—anything he ordered, no matter how twisted, cruel, or perverted it was.

And perverted it was. He was currently in the middle of training her to take another girl's place, training her in all the important aspects of being 'American.' She loathed the training. She was forced to smile non-stop, she had to change her normally straight and dull hair into a wavy, silky, nest of full-bodied hair, she had to learn to dance, and more importantly, to sing. Thankfully, months of intensive training before they gone to Germany had taught her both German and English. She had been almost eager in those months to please Naraku because he told her that he knew who her father was and would help her get her revenge. He told her that he would only help her when she was no longer of any use to him. So she became studious and attentive—but that was years ago. His promise had long been forgotten, or at least almost forgotten.

Kikyou never forgot. She was trained not to. She planned on holding Naraku to his promise at her earliest opportunity.

She could only hope that she stayed alive that long.

The dance lesson was over now. Naraku wanted her to start singing, but she was awful. Naraku gave her a look that was all too familiar to her—to any outsider, it was a sympathetic and understanding expression, but she knew better. This look was the one that she feared most; it usually led to some extreme punishment, borne from his pity. His pity always became gentle berating talks, and then violence, all with the same sadistic smile set on his face. To her surprise, he didn't punish her right away.

"Perhaps it is time for a change of pace. We will focus on a different aspect of Americanism for now."

A spark of hope lit for a brief moment, and mistakenly she let it slip onto her face, where Naraku quickly recognized and resolved to snuff it out.

"American women are well known for being flirtatious and promiscuous in the presence of _all_ men. All American women are, in essence, whores."

Her spark of hope suddenly became a 1-ton block of ice, settled neatly in the pit of her stomach.

"And you will learn to be one too."

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He was doing it again.

As he stood there while the music lulled slowly, she could sense his confusion and embarrassment at the situation. If it had lasted less than ten seconds, it would have been cute, and she had thought so, but that was nearly a half of a minute ago. If he didn't do something fast, she was going to have to do something drastic that neither of them would like.

"Inuyasha, is something wrong?" she finally asked.

"N-no," he sputtered. Then he mumbled something incoherent.

"I'm sorry?" she inquired after his last statement.

"I said, 'I don't know how to slow-dance.'"

"Oh, is that all? I can teach you that too—just follow me," she started to reach for his hands, but he suddenly retracted. She looked very disappointed.

"Look, I'm not going to bite, I just want to show you where to put your hands."

"I already KNOW where to put my hands, it's just that I've never done anything like this before…" he seemed more than a little embarrassed, but still kept his gruff, stoic mask on.

"Well, if you're not going to dance with me, I'll just have to find someone else," and she started to walk away.

"Oh no you don't. My job is to stick with you at all times, no matter what. I can't afford to get kicked out of the Army, so I'll dance with you," he stated firmly as he grabbed her wrist. He fervently hoped that his excuse would cover the fact that he was just really nervous about touching her.

A hurt expression came over her face, and he became flustered. "Well, I don't want to get in the way of you doing your job," she said flatly, now serious. He looked away and mumbled something she didn't catch, but took her hand and placed his behind her shoulder, and then waited. While she explained the footwork to him, her thoughts wandered back to her impression of the boy—no, he was a man, but a young one—who stood before her, earnestly learning the dance, almost as if repenting for his rudeness.

'I guess I can understand his unease around strange people, but he sure is moody.  One minute he's dancing wonderfully, seemingly having a good time, the next he puts up his wall and goes back to his oh-so-charming tough guy act. I don't understand him at all. He seems pretty worried about his career, maybe I should ask him about that…'

Meanwhile, Inuyasha was working hard on learning the 'foxtrot,' as she had called it, while also silently berating himself. 'Way to go, genius. You almost blew it that time. Did you see the look on her face when you said she was just a job? Boy, what a bonehead you are. Okay, so she doesn't want to marry you, but would it kill you to be a little more _humane around her? Besides, she's pretty attractive. Even Miroku said she was 'dish.' You should really try and treat yourself better—be nice for God's sake.' He shook himself out of his internalized chewing-out just in time to catch Kagome look up at him._

"Inuyasha?"

"Yes?"

"Do you mind if I ask you about your, um, demotions?"

He hesitated a moment. "I thought you wanted to wait until later to discuss that."

"If you don't want to yet, that's okay. I just wondered if you could tell me the short version right now."

"If there was a short version, I'd tell you," he gritted, "but right now we don't have enough time, and I think you're due back on stage after this song, aren't you?"

She cursed silently, "Yes, you're right, I should get back up there. But don't think this gets you out of telling me anything," she added quickly as he started to exhale.

"Of course not," he grinned ruefully.

He took his seat next to Kaede, who unbeknownst to him had been watching the whole exchange, starting with their first dance.

"You like her don't you?" she asked suddenly, not making the young man jump nearly as much as she had hoped.

"Keh," he spat. Then, almost a minute later, "I don't know. I honestly don't know what to think. I didn't have a mother, never interacted with girls much, except the nuns at school…" He shook himself visibly, then turned a wary eye on Kaede. "What the hell am I talking to you for? I don't even know you!"

She chuckled softly and shook her head. "I know how to get people to talk," she said simply and left it at that, turning back to the stage, where Kagome was now performing a duet with the male singer: Chattanooga Choo-choo.

Inuyasha sat silently, enjoying the song, but thinking to himself. 'She's right, I do like her. But how do I know if she like's me? I don't even know what to look for, what signals to recognize. ARGHH     ! Why are people so infuriating? Why can't things be simple, like in my platoon? Orders given, orders obeyed—simple, no guessing games. I like that: simple. But if she doesn't like me, and I like her and tell her, that'll make my job very difficult.'

He sighed in spite of himself, drawing a curious glance from Kaede. He quickly regained his composure and concentrated on watching Kagome sing. Trying to force out the thought that the shy winks she gave the audience were really for him.

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Inuyasha stood patiently by the door of the hangar, waiting for Kagome to finish talking to Captain Glenn Miller. He shook his head—the guy got to be a captain just because he was a celebrity. Although, he admitted, the guy did wonders for the morale of the troops. Oh, what the hell, let the guy have his rank.

The two women curtsied and shook the Captain's hand, then made their way to the door. Inuyasha straightened and held the door for the both of them, and then followed them out to where the car was waiting to take them back to Kagome's VOQ.

As soon as he stepped outside the hangar he could smell the stale alcohol and scent of vomit. 'Great, not only is he drunk, but the sap can't even hold his liquor.'

A pilot staggered out into the light in front of Kagome and smiled lopsidedly at her.

"Hey baby, you were great. Really, spectacular!"

"Gee, thank you," she mumbled quietly as she sidestepped him. He grabbed her arm and she gasped. She could already hear Inuyasha's footsteps quickening in her direction.

The unknown man pulled her close and whispered, "Ditch the Private, baby. Why don't you come spend the night with me?" He barely finished his sentence before he was roughly pulled away.

"Sir, I have specific orders to return Miss Higurashi directly to her quarters after the dance," Inuyasha spouted with obviously strained patience.

"Get your hands off me Private! You have no authority here!" the man yelled drunkenly.

"Sir, you're out of order," Inuyasha gritted through his teeth. "I am acting on the authority of _Major_ Kusanagi." Inuyasha tried to calm himself, but the man (who on closer inspection proved to be a 'Lieutenant Tanaka') continued to aggravate him.

"That whelp? Ha! He wouldn't do anything about it if she was his own _mother_!"

Inuyasha's limited control snapped at the mention of 'mother,' and he grasped the man's shirt and twisted it, bringing himself nose to nose with the ill-mannered pilot.

"What's your name?" he growled.

The man seemed unimpressed. "Can't you read Private? Oh yeah, I forgot. They don't teach _grunts_ to read, do they?"

Inuyasha twisted harder, choking off the man's air now. "Your name," he said slowly, obviously commanding, not requesting.

The man gulped for air, then said in a raspy voice, "Tanaka. Kouga Tanaka." Inuyasha released his grip slightly.

"Good. Now, listen up Tanaka." The man started to look towards Kagome who was watching worriedly when Inuyasha shook him and retightened his grip, redrawing his attention. "My orders are my orders, and I will follow them. Don't tempt me to step outside them in order to toss you around. You fly boys have an ego problem. My advice to you is to get over it. Normally I would tell you to visit her during visiting hours, but in this case I'm going to make an exception: if I see you around, I'll break your legs. Clear, _sir?"_

Kouga nodded quickly, and as soon as Inuyasha released him stumbled off into the darkness.

As he finished helping Kagome into the car, the smell of alcohol and vomit came back to him. 'The bastard doesn't know when to quit,' he thought, and started off after him, but looked to Kagome and thought better of it.

'I really, really hate that guy,' he thought as he got into the car.


	7. Sometimes the Hypocrisy Just Gets to Me

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha™ nor do I own any of its characters or its original plotline. They are the intellectual property of Takahashi Rumiko and will remain so forever. My small claim on this work of fiction is in its creation of the alternate universe plotline, which I assert to the best of my knowledge to be an original product of my imagination. Any similarity to persons (other than the aforementioned characters belonging to Takahashi Rumiko) or events either real or previously imagined is completely coincidental and please excused._

* * *

When they arrived back at Kagome's quarters, Inuyasha was fully prepared to say goodnight and go back to his barracks. He almost got away with it too. 

"Goodnight, Miss Higurashi," he called, heading toward his jeep. 

"Inuyasha…we still have to discuss your file. You're not going anywhere until I'm satisfied," she coldly and matter-of-factly reminded him. 

He had genuinely forgotten, but now that he had been reminded, he wanted to leave even more quickly. He about-faced though, and headed back toward the 'house.' Once inside he could hear the tea water being boiled in the kitchen, presumably by Kaede, and took his seat, nearest the door so he could make a quick getaway if necessary. 

Kagome took the seat across from him and simply looked at him for a few minutes. 'It looks like this might take a while,' she thought. 'It'll be worth it though. If his service record is anything to go by, he could turn out to be a very valuable asset to this mission.' 

_Not to mention that you think he's cute._

'Wha! Just a minute—this is strictly business, Kagome. Don't start wandering,' she told herself firmly. About then Kaede came in with the tea, setting it down rather sharply, startling both of the younger people. 'Wonder where he wandered off too?' Kagome thought, noting how even Inuyasha started a bit at the clinking of the tea dishes. 

"So…" Kagome began uncertainly, "let's start with the story behind your demotions. I told you before, they're in the file along with the official charges filed…" she paused as she paged through his file. "Disorderly conduct and Insubordination for your first offense. Negligence resulting in the death of a fellow soldier and Insubordination for your second offense. And finally, Striking a superior officer, Failure to follow a direct order in combat, and, of course, Insubordination." 

Inuyasha cringed while she read the list of his failures as a soldier. It reminded him too much of sitting in front of a review board. He had the fleeting notion that he might be about to be demoted yet again. After all, who knew what kind of authority this girl wielded? 

The change in mood had caused him to completely abandon the thoughts he'd been enjoying before Kaede pointedly interrupted the silence with the tea. He had been thinking about the possibility her 'mission' being finished so he might be able to get to know her other than being her bodyguard. The fact that she was now acting more like his unit commander preparing to reprimand him had shifted his thoughts to less pleasant territory. 

"Okay, let's hear it, Inuyasha. What's the story behind these? If it were as cut and dried as it looks in your file you would have been busted down to potato peeler or worse long ago. There's obviously something more to it."

Inuyasha took a breath and closed his eyes. A moment later he opened his golden-hazel eyes and looked straight at Kagome. She settled back further in her chair as he began his narrative. 

First he related the story of his and Miroku's encounter with the disgruntled major in the pub and the ensuing mess resulting in his first demotion. Then he began the story of his most painful mistake. 

"When we reached the rallying point for the flight, the flak and AA got really thick, so our pilot was jinking around quite a bit to avoid a direct hit. I took a quick look out the window and couldn't even see the ground the flak was so thick. I remember one of the crew-members saying '…so thick you could walk on it.' Anyway, we had just reached the drop-zone and were filing out of the plane when we got hit twice: once in the cockpit and once in the wing. I'm pretty sure the pilot was dead because we began to pitch down. 

"Well, I had been made last out so that I could make sure all the rookies got it right and didn't kill themselves. Unfortunately, when the pilot started jinking I was too busy trying to stay standing that I didn't notice a couple of guys hadn't hooked up when we were told to. So, as the plane was entering a dive I started getting everyone out as fast as I could, and I only noticed then that the two men in front of me weren't hooked into the anchor line. I quickly grabbed both of their static lines just before the first one went out the door and hooked them onto my own harness." 

He paused here, unsure of what to say next, worried that she wouldn't want to have anything to do with him after he told her what happened next. 

"As I jumped from the plane, the first man's static line went taut and pulled his 'chute. It also broke the strap on my harness that I had hooked the two lines to. The first guy was fine—his 'chute was already open. The second guy though…he didn't make it…" he trailed off, his grip on the arm of the chair increasing to the point that the sound of creaking chestnut reached Kagome's ears. 

'And that was somehow his fault?…' she thought, suddenly understanding some of his demeanor. 'Doesn't he realize that things like that happen all of the time in war?' 

Inuyasha took inhaled sharply and refocused on her. "When I landed, I got my gear as quick as I could and went to go look for him." Another pause. "It didn't take very long, but there wasn't really much left to find…The kid was so green he didn't even remember to pull his reserve. He hit quite a few trees before actually hitting the ground. He was a mess—I couldn't stand it. I grabbed his weapon, ammo, and tags and went to the rally point to get an Aid and Litter crew. 

"When I got there I rejoined my platoon and reported to the Company Commander about the kid. He wasn't happy, and promised me that I would be held responsible. It didn't take long. About a week later after we'd set up the Command Post and all, he held a short field Court Martial and demoted me to Corporal. I got to keep my squad, though. I guess the demotion itself wasn't so bad, but…aw jeez! Why couldn't the damn kid have just pulled his reserve? It doesn't matter anyway…it's my fault for not taking care of my stick-mate…" 

He huffed and slumped in his chair, seemingly exhausted. 

Kagome meanwhile couldn't think of anything to say. He was obviously very angry, or disappointed, or depressed, but the best she could come up with was a very soft "I'm sorry…" 

Inuyasha simply grunted. "What do you know about it…" he was cut off by his own yawn, "anyway?" he finished. 

Hoping the last topic would somehow lighten the mood, Kagome asked her last question. "So what about this last one? What happened there?" 

Inuyasha chuckled slightly. Then he began to laugh harder until he was shaking in the chair. It was not a happy laugh, and this worried Kagome. 

"I don't see anything funny about it," she said crossly. Inuyasha just kept laughing though, and seemed to slip away to his own thoughts. 

"It wasn't funny," he said after a while, "It was probably the most serious situation of all. Sometimes the hypocrisy of it all just gets to me." 

"You were wrongfully accused?" she asked. 

"No, I did everything it says. I hit the bastard, and I hit him hard. But apparently I didn't hit him hard enough. He returned to his command a few days ago I heard." 

"What are you talking about? Are you just going to make me guess?" 

"I might. I don't really feel like reliving the experience right now myself, and I'm not sure you could handle it at all, little girl." He had closed his eyes, but he could still hear her sharp intake of breath in preparation to blast him with all the force she could muster. "Besides that, I'm bushed, and I think I'm going to sack in." 

This stopped Kagome just before she was about to start bellowing into his face. She had never felt so insulted—to be called a 'little girl' after all that she'd been through. She wouldn't stand for it—but then, it was possible he was trying to spare her gory details. She appreciated the sentiment, but decided to have a little talk to him later about names and using them. 

She opted for "I think I can handle it," as her response, rather than the bellow she had previously favored.

"Too bad. I already told you, I'm headed for the sack." he stated. He really didn't want to tell the story. Her disappointment was evident, but somewhere along the way, someone must have told her not to interfere with a soldier and his sleep. 

He got up out of his chair and started to make his way to the door when suddenly the Sodium Pentothal in his tea took effect. Kagome had been waiting, wondering why it took so long to get into his system in the first place. She had anticipated him being difficult about sharing his record, so Kaede had been told to make him some 'special' tea. She started to get up to help him back to his seat, but he was faster. 

"Alright, w-wench…" he stuttered, "what'd you do to me?" 

"Sodium Pentothal—I want that story," she very patiently explained. 

"HA! The jo-oke is on you," he shakily pointed his finger at her, "All I am now is really, really…really tired…" he trailed off as he slumped against the wall. 

'Damn!' Kagome thought. 'Too strong a dose—note to self: reduce dosage when dealing with Inuyasha.' 

"What am I going to do with you now?" she asked aloud. She was answered only by a snore from the object of her interrogation. As she moved to pull him up and move him to a chair, he stirred, moaning in his sleep. "What's on your mind, soldier?" she continued to interrogate as she slipped his arm over her shoulder and began to lift. Once again the only reply she received was a soft snore that tickled her ear. 

=@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= 

_Inuyasha's feet were sore. He continued to scramble over the rocky terrain ahead of his squad though, and was rewarded with a relieving sight when he crested the ridge he had been ascending. He dropped low and called his squad to a halt before they too could come into view of the village he had spotted. His binoculars now seated firmly and steadily against his eyes, he surveyed the seen in front of him, no more than a kilometer away. _

_What he saw seemed innocent enough. A small hamlet along their direction of travel with no more than 12 or 13 houses with a couple of structures that could only be storehouses and grain mills. He watched for a few more minutes the daily activity of the village and noted nothing suspicious about the secluded mountain community. As he made a final sweep of the landscape with his binoculars however he spotted a dark shape moving quickly to the south of their position. Almost immediately came the 'whiz' sound of the incoming artillery. _

_"INCOMING!" Inuyasha shouted and ordered his men to disperse, but the shells were flying well behind them, landing in the midst of the main element. After about 10 shells had flown overhead, Inuyasha called for the RATELO (Radio Telephone Operator) and told him to radio the Captain. _

_"Charlie 6 this is Charlie 2-4, over." _

_"Go ahead Charlie 2-4, over," came the answer of the Captain. _

_"Have sighted small village. Break. Population no more than 60 to 70; farming activity present; location approximately 2.5 cliks West-Southwest from your current position; no apparent uniforms, all civilian personnel; no military equipment visible, but I'd be willing to bet a few old men have a rifle stashed somewhere. Break. Have also sighted an unknown contact moving at fast pace toward the South from the direction of the village. Contact sighted immediately prior to indirect fire. Over." _

_"Charlie 2-4, proceed to village and secure all civilian personnel. Break. Set up security around village perimeter and await further instructions. Out." _

_Inuyasha stashed the radio back in the RATELO's pack and signaled for his squad to bound up to the village by fire team. His squad was slightly oversized with 14 due to the fact that they were a part of the Recon Platoon—Platoon Charlie 2-6, 6 being the platoon leader, 5 the platoon sergeant, and 4 Inuyasha—and they were broken into three squads rather than the normal four. They lacked a heavy weapons squad as they needed to move quickly. _

_All three teams were now set and moving steadily by fours up to the village with Inuyasha and his RATELO bounding as a buddy team. When they reached the village all the activity Inuyasha had seen before through his binoculars seemed to have ceased. The people had gathered at one large building in the center of the town—apparently the church—and remained there while Inuyasha set up his fire teams in a three point security perimeter using buildings and lofts. Then he radioed Charlie 6 again. _

_"Charlie 6 this is Charlie 2-4, over." _

_"Go ahead Charlie 2-4, over." _

_"Charlie 2-4 set in the village with security perimeter. Approximately 60 non-coms gathered in the church. Ammo is up, no casualties, no lost equipment." _

_"Roger that. Charlie 6 moving to your current position. Get those non-coms out of that building and herd them into the center of town. We have 6 wounded from that shelling and I want to know who called it in." _

_'He must be pissed,' Inuyasha thought to himself. As such he restrained himself from reminding the Captain that the shells came from the direction of the fleeing figure he had seen to the south. _

_"Roger. Out," Inuyasha called back and set to work. He had his RATELO, who spoke Italian, order everyone out of the building and into the main square of the town near the well that Inuyasha had not been able to see from the ridge. The villagers looked very frightened, and Inuyasha didn't blame them—he half hoped that Charlie 6 got shelled again and went off after the direction of the shells instead of coming to the village. He was disappointed when the main element came into view no more than 10 minutes later, looking as if they were in a hurry. _

_As soon as the Captain set foot in the village he assigned a platoon to relieve Inuyasha's squad of security and set up an Aid Station for the wounded inside the church. With that taken care of he commanded the rest of the Company to set up a Command Post in the largest house and begin weapons maintenance and food rotations. Then he came for Inuyasha. _

_"Corporal, which one of these freak wops called artillery down on us?" he fumed. _

_"Sir, I don't think it was any of them. I think there was a spotter on that ridge to the south," he pointed in the direction of the southern ridge, "and he was bustin' ass to get out of the way after he called artillery down on us. The village was too low in the valley to have seen us coming." _

_"Bullshit, one of these damned wops is responsible and I'm going to find out which one." He eyed the mob for a moment and settled on a young girl no older than 14 or 15. "Her," he pointed her out to Inuyasha, "Bring her and take up guard station on the outside of the CP. She looks like she's ready to tell us something." _

_"First Sergeant!" he yelled, "Keep security around that group at the well. I don't want any of them slinking off!" The First Sergeant acknowledged and took the remaining platoons and set up a perimeter around the outside of the group. _

_The CP was empty when they arrived and the Captain disappeared inside with the girl. Inuyasha was already getting nervous when the Captain had instructed him to grab the young-woman and bring her for interrogation, but now that the Captain was alone inside with the girl, a large group of people and soldiers were just standing around like targets in the middle of the town, and his squad was spread all over the place to who-knows-where, he was extremely nervous and on the verge of getting angry. _

_He was about to interrupt the Captain in his interrogation efforts when the young girl began screaming in Italian. Inuyasha moved to burst into the house. _

_Then the shells came. _

_Artillery shells don't sound like a whistle by the time they're within earshot. They more buzz and whiz and then change sharply in their pitch just before impact. Inuyasha heard that low pulsing buzz and knew right where they were headed—he looked toward the mass of people standing not 100 meters from him. They were looking around in confusion, and several of the soldiers doing the same. Inuyasha had just opened his mouth to yell "MOVE!" to them when the first shell hit. At least 15 followed, and by the time the debris cleared and Inuyasha had cleared the ringing from his ears he already knew what to expect. _

_Broken, mangled bodies littered the ground in the center of the small town. Some weren't even whole anymore, and anybody left alive was screaming in pain. The cry "MEDIC!" had already gone up and the Company medics were on the way, so Inuyasha turned his attention to the temporary Command Post. _

_Throwing the door open he looked on in disgust at the scene before him. The Captain had been hastily pulling his pants back on after the attack—it had lasted no longer than 20 or 30 seconds, and the Captain had apparently thought to hide himself during the shelling. The young woman was crying on the floor but apparently unharmed physically. Trying to cover his despicable acts, the Captain snapped at Inuyasha, "Report, dammit!" _

_Inuyasha answered only with a snarl as he grabbed the sub-human by the collar and dragged him outside, throwing him in the mud. Picking the miserable excuse for an officer up (with his pants still around his ankles), Inuyasha began to yell at the captain. _

_"You bastard! Do you realize what you've done! You just set up an entire village for slaughter at the hands of the artillery scout we SHOULD have been looking for! And while you're in there doing God-knows-what to that poor girl, these people were murdered! You dirty Son-of-a-Bitch!" With that, Inuyasha pulled back all the way across the _ _Atlantic Ocean_ _ and let fly the meanest haymaker he had ever thrown. _

_The captain was lifted off the ground and thrown bodily through the air backwards. Inuyasha repeated this process until the miserable man was unconscious, and then began kicking him in the ribs, listening to the satisfying crunch of bone with every kick until he was finally dragged away by his own squad mates amidst the shrill screams of the wounded…_


	8. Expendable

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha™ nor do I own any of its characters or its original plotline. They are the intellectual property of Takahashi Rumiko and will remain so forever. My small claim on this work of fiction is in its creation of the alternate universe plotline, which I assert to the best of my knowledge to be an original product of my imagination. Any similarity to persons (other than the aforementioned characters belonging to Takahashi Rumiko) or events either real or previously imagined is completely coincidental and please excused._

* * *

The first thing Inuyasha saw the next morning when he opened his bleary eyes were a pair of severe looking military police soldiers being blocked from approaching him by a very stern looking Kagome. His only thought was, 'Hey, I think I know those guys,' and then he passed out again.

"You can't take him. It's not his fault—I wouldn't let him leave so he stayed the night in the chair."

"Miss, I don't care what happened after he walked in that door, but it doesn't look good that he didn't come right back out."

Kagome was shocked, angry and speechless—well, almost speechless anyway. "What EXACTLY are you trying to imply? Because whatever it is I don't think I'll like it, and let me tell you buster, if you think I'm going to stand here and let you insult me your dead wrong."

The MPs took a step back from Kagome's tirade and looked at one another trying to gauge how far they were willing to push the issue.

The second MP spoke up, attempting to be diplomatic. "Look, if you're so concerned about it, why don't you come along? Not to face charges, mind you, but just to explain your side of the story. I mean, you don't really have anything at stake here, right?"

Kagome considered, and while his opinion of what was at stake seemed sorely lacking, he had a point. Besides, going with them would probably by some time for Kaede to finish running her errand. "Alright then. I'll come with you, but he's passed out, do you really think you'll need the handcuffs?"

The first MP stopped removing the cuffs from his belt and looked at Kagome somewhat ashamed. "No, I suppose not."

"Good. Then let's move him to the jeep. He's heavier than he looks."

Kaede was just walking up to the VOQ she and Kagome were staying in when the jeep sped off with Kagome and a sleeping Inuyasha in the back.

She sighed, "Well, at least all this walking is keeping me from getting lazy in my old age."

With a grunt she readjusted her shoulder bag and started walking in the general direction the jeep took off in—towards the base headquarters and the jail.

This time when Inuyasha woke up his eyes weren't quite so blurry, but he had a splitting headache. 'Boy,' he thought, 'who knew that truth drugs could be so potent…I feel like some rolled over my head with Sherman tank.'

When he had managed to calm his throbbing arteries and temples, he looked around him to see where he had managed to stumble off to while he was asleep. It was a very sparse room, with only a cot, a wash pale, and a single window at the top of one wall with bars covering it. Bars? Suddenly Inuyasha had a sinking feeling that he had not wandered here of his own accord.

As he was contemplating what he might have possibly done this time, he heard raised voices from one of the offices somewhere else in the HQ building. There were two or three distinctly male voices and one higher pitched, but strong, female voice—that had to be Kagome.

He couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but suddenly there was halt to the discussion—more like an argument really—as another voice joined. This one sounded slightly winded and he couldn't tell which but it was either an old man or an old woman. As soon as this person stopped speaking he heard some heavy footsteps coming his direction.

The boots on the feet he was hearing turned out to belong to one of the MPs he thought he had dreamed earlier. "You're a strange one Kusanagi, but I don't think your butt's out of fire yet. They want to see you."

Inuyasha merely shrugged, since the man's statements didn't seem to explain much and he was still feeling pretty out of it due to his headache. He allowed the MP to lead him through what seemed to be a couple of really long hallways in his state of mind, but he knew they had to be short since he had been listening to the conversation.

As soon as they entered the office all eyes were on him. The inhabitants of the office were all higher ups and he was getting more and more worried as time went by without anyone speaking. Behind the desk was Colonel Matheson, the base commander, and stuffed uncomfortably in the normally large office were Kagome, Kaede, Sesshoumaru, the two MPs, a gentlemen with glasses and a tweed suit, and a very elderly and jovial looking man with a pipe in his mouth. Colonel Matheson nodded to the MPs who quickly left and shut the door.

When the silence was broken, it was Colonel Matheson who spoke first. "Private Kusanagi, do you know why you're here?"

"Well, judging by where I woke up and who brought me from there I'd say I'm probably in trouble…again…and the word 'insubordination' probably has something to do with it as well." As he spoke he remembered the exact number of times he'd screwed up the day before: he didn't stay confined to barracks, he manhandled a lieutenant, he didn't return to his barracks before lights out...yeah, one of those probably did it.

"Well, ordinarily you would be right," Matheson started, "but today we have something of an interesting situation here. It seems that in spite of your spotty record, you've been requested by name by the Office of Special Services to participate in a covert operation. Do you know what that means, Private?"

Inuyasha was a little surprised by this and quickly glanced at Kagome, who wasn't looking at him at all, then replied, "No sir, I really don't know what that means."

The Colonel smiled slightly—this made Inuyasha nervous—and in the manner of a father speaking to a small child said, "That means that, assuming you choose to accept the assignment, the Army will wash its hands of you. You will no longer be our problem. If, for some reason, the OSS decides it has no use for you and sends you back, you may face a summary court martial to review your record and your behavior as a soldier. Upon commencement of your assignment to the OSS you will be reinstated to your rank prior to any disciplinary action by the Army. Do you understand?"

Inuyasha blinked and wondered what strange world he'd woken up in. "Sir, you're saying that if I accept this assignment I will be a Staff Sergeant again, my records won't indicate that I was ever charged with any violations of military law, and I'll be participating in a covert operation?"

"That's correct."

"What happens when the operation is over?" Inuyasha asked apprehensively.

This time the gentleman in the tweed suit spoke. "If you complete the operation successfully you will be transferred back to the Army as a Sergeant First Class with your choice of assignment."

"Furthermore," the older man spoke "once you have been promoted you will be given the option to renew your assignment to the OSS—if the war is still on, that is."

Inuyasha was dumbfounded. Whose crazy dream was this? It couldn't be his, he had never been so optimistic. This had to be Kagome's doing, something to do with that assignment of hers. It seemed obvious now that she worked for the OSS, otherwise she would have been dismissed from the room with the MPs.

The older man, smiled widely, asked, "So, can we count on your help?"

Inuyasha grinned slightly, "Why the hell not?"

Miroku woke up suddenly as a jeep roared past his bedroom window.

"Jeez, you'd think they could keep it down a little so early in the morning."

He yawned impressively and then stood up to head into the shower. He looked at his watched and noted it was actually pretty late. He had slept past 0800 hours—that had to be the first time since before he joined the Army.

An hour and three S's later—Shower, Shave, and Something else—he felt ready to face the world. Sitting in the sitting room, of all places, he was sipping coffee and reading the newspaper when he remembered he needed to check on something. It was a little after 0900 in London which meant it was a little after 0400 in Washington. As he put on his jacket to head toward the HQ building he thought 'I hope Myouga still lives at work."

Once the orders had been signed and the formalities of promoting him had been taken care of, Inuyasha felt unbelievably good. Sesshoumaru had looked fairly miffed as he read through the paper work to make sure it was all in order. He really enjoyed seeing Sesshoumaru stew and boil over things like this. 'Well big brother,' he thought, 'technically this is all your doing anyway, so you have no one to blame but yourself.'

After everything was set in order he followed the gentlemen in the tweed suit and with the pipe and Kagome and Kaede to another office hidden in a remote corner of the HQ building. Once they entered it became apparent that this was not a permanent office. There were no personal effects on the desks, no office materials or paper, just a set of briefcases and a film projector.

The man in the tweed suit motioned to a set of chairs which everyone took a seat in and then the older man began to speak.

"As you know Sergeant Kusanagi you have been selected to participate in an operation being carried out by the Office of Special Services. Miss Higurashi has requested your presence in this operation because after a review of your records and an interview she determined that you would be an asset to this mission. We had some doubts but Kaede here can be very persuasive." Inuyasha looked over at Kaede who merely grinned at no one in particular.

The younger man stood and moved to projector and began speaking. "Now here is how our chain of command stands. Inuyasha and Kagome will be our field operatives, Kaede, being the senior operative, will be their handler, and Wellesley and I—my name is Arthur Coolidge by the way, and that is Sir Robert Wellesley—will be the coordinators here in England. After today, Inuyasha and Kagome will never speak or see us again until the mission in complete. Are there any questions?"

Inuyasha raised his hand, "One sir: when does the operation start."

Coolidge smiled, "It already has. Oh, and you don't have to raise your hand. If you'll all please turn your attention to the screen I'll begin the briefing."

After searching for what seemed like an eternity, Miroku had found a secure phone he could use to call Myouga. Once he had discovered that Myouga didn't really sleep anymore (and after hear all the reasons why) he started asking about the information that he had asked Myouga to look up the day before.

"So Myouga, did you find anything on Kagome or not?"

Jittery as always Myouga replied from across the ocean, "Oh sure, it took a little while to find since it was packed in with all the Souta Higurashi stuff—I told you the sneaky bastards do stuff like that—but I found a whole accordion folder full of stuff on Kagome."

Miroku was becoming intrigued—when Myouga's paranoia proved to be correct, things definitely started getting interesting. "Well Myouga, what's the story then?"

Myouga, now in his element of analyzing and summarizing information, spoke confidently and calmly. "So, it turns out that during auditions for USO singers in Chicago Kagome was singled out and told she would be getting a call soon because she had been selected. As far as she and her family knew, that meant that she was going on a USO tour. Well, when she arrived at the office she was told to go to they asked her a series of very intensive questions regarding her loyalty to the United States and so on and so forth. When they were satisfied that she was indeed loyal to the US they offered her a proposition—if she would agree to participate in a secret operation, they would release her extended family from internment. Naturally she agreed and so they began training her. From her records it appears that she is a very proficient marksman—ahem, markswoman rather—and she can speak a number of languages, including French, Italian and German. The details of her assignment are somewhat sparse but she is supposed to be traveling under the guise of a USO performer with her manager and is eventually supposed to infiltrate enemy territory in order to replace a Japanese woman of striking similarity working as a maid in Germany for high ranking German officials. After the replacement is complete she will begin gathering information from the German officials and transmitting the data to her handler. The hope is that sensitive information about German offensives and defensive positions will be acquired and that it can be used to turn the tide of the war."

Miroku sat on the other end of the line speechless. Who knew such a young girl would be given so important an assignment? Inuyasha was really going to be in for a surprise when he heard this.

About that time Myouga was startled, "Oh! Someone's coming. I've got to go. Take care Miroku…I know I will." Then he hung up.

Miroku just replaced the handset of the telephone and shook his head. He had to find Inuyasha before they left for their next venue.

"Okay, so Kagome is supposed to infiltrate Berlin and replace this doppelganger. What's my part in all of this?"

Coolidge smiled his knowing smile—in fact that seemed to be the only way he _could_ smile—and Inuyasha wanted to knock it clean off his face. "Granted Miss Higurashi has considerable training in infiltration and marksmanship, but she lacks practical experience in the field. She has proposed, and I agreed with her, that having an experienced scout accompany her through German lines would significantly increase the probability of this mission's success."

Inuyasha was almost afraid to ask, but he figured it was better just to confirm his suspicions. "So, what do I do once I finish getting Kagome in?"

Wellesley fielded this one, probably because he could talk without flashing that fake smile. "Well chap, the French Resistance has a strong presence in the Rhineland and we will be able to supply you with the necessary pass phrases that you can use to join up with—"

"So what you're saying is I'm expendable."

The elderly knight sighed, "Yes, I'm afraid that's about the size of it, my boy."

"Well," Inuyasha stated without much regret or concern, "it's not the first time, but I'm gonna make damn sure it's not the last either."

Wellesley was silent for a moment, then cracked a wide, genuine smile and laughingly said, "That's the spirit, chap!" Turning to Coolidge he said, "This boy is going to be just fine."

Kagome shifted in her seat and looked at Inuyasha's determined visage as he set his jaw and looked ahead at Wellesley. 'I'm sorry Inuyasha—I didn't think you'd be expendable.'

Inuyasha spoke next. "So, when do we leave? We've got a show to get to, right?"

Coolidge turned to him with his false grin, "Right now, sergeant. Right now."


	9. One Long Week

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha™ nor do I own any of its characters or its original plotline. They are the intellectual property of Takahashi Rumiko and will remain so forever. My small claim on this work of fiction is in its creation of the alternate universe plotline, which I assert to the best of my knowledge to be an original product of my imagination. Any similarity to persons (other than the aforementioned characters belonging to Takahashi Rumiko) or events either real or previously imagined is completely coincidental and please excused._

* * *

Despite Coolidge's intimation that the three agents would be leaving the instant the meeting was over, there were a lot of preparations to make. When everything was laid out and set into motion it would be a full week before they were ready to leave, which was fine since they weren't due in North Africa for another week anyway.

Inuyasha bore the brunt of the preparation work for the mission. His first task—which was his idea—was to prepare two packs for himself and two for Kagome: one to contain his 'official' uniforms, equipment and paperwork, and another pack to contain his mission sensitive materials, like unmarked uniforms, forged German paperwork, compact weaponry and survival equipment, and so forth. The idea behind having two packs being if an unforeseen opportunity should arise for Inuyasha and Kagome to make an attempt at infiltrating the Third Reich they would be prepared and would only need to grab the appropriate pack and leave. Coolidge and Wellesley were impressed and fully endorsed the idea. All Inuyasha said was, "Well, combat zones are uncertain, so it's best to be prepared for the unexpected."

Before any packing could be done though, Inuyasha's living quarters needed to be arranged. It was decided that Inuyasha could not continue his residence in the barracks if he was going to be doing so much preparation for the mission during "off-duty" hours—it would undoubtedly draw unwanted attention. Of course the idea that he reside with Kaede and Kagome in their VOQ was also nixed almost immediately, given that his overnight stay had already attracted enough attention and besides that, as Sir Wellesley eloquently stated, "It's just not proper." Because he needed to be close by to communicate and coordinate with Kagome and Kaede, Inuyasha came up with another solution.

When Inuyasha arrived at Miroku's quarters, he found Miroku pacing rapidly in the sitting room of the house and mumbling to himself.

"Miroku? Hey buddy, are you alright?"

"Inuyasha, I finally found you!" Inuyasha quirked an eyebrow at this which caused Miroku to look at his whereabouts. "Oh, well I guess you found me, but it doesn't matter. I've got something really important to tell you."

"Well that's okay, because I have an important favor to ask of you." Inuyasha steeled himself, he didn't like having to lie to people he knew and trusted, but it was really only a partial lie. Really. "You remember Kagome, next door? Well there was an incident last night with a drunken pilot and it was decided that it would be a good idea if I stayed close by in case anything happened in the next week. So since we already know one another I was wondering if I might…"

"Hey, when did you get your stripes back?" Miroku interrupted, pointing at the newly sewn on Staff Sergeant rank.

"Uh…" crap, now this was going to be difficult to explain. Why hadn't he thought of this before?

"Does this have something to do with Kagome's secret mission into Germany?"

Inuyasha was dumbstruck. Then it hit him. "You've spoken to Myouga, haven't you, Miroku?" He'd almost forgotten about his request to Miroku the previous day.

"Yeah, it turns out Kagome's on a secret mission for the OSS-"

"Miroku, I already know. To make a long story short I woke up in a jail cell this morning, was marched to the Colonel's office, made a Staff Sergeant again and reassigned to OSS." Seeing the stunned and confused look on Miroku's face, Inuyasha seized the opportunity to ask his favor. "Miroku, I can't stay at the barracks anymore and I certainly can't stay with the two ladies, but I need to be close by. Could I room with you for the next week?"

Miroku, still somewhat dazed by the amazing luck of his friend, answered slowly, "Sure."

Inuyasha smiled, "Thanks buddy! I knew I could count on you. I'll be back later with my footlocker." Inuyasha clapped his friend on the shoulder and strode out of the VOQ.

All Miroku could do was stand there and marvel to himself. 'Boy, some people have all the luck. Not only does he get un-demoted and reassigned, but now he's going on a secret mission with a beautiful girl. Sheesh, he probably doesn't even realize how lucky he is.'

After moving his gear and personal affects from the barracks to Miroku's VOQ, Inuyasha quickly set about making a task list for the week.

_Field Training_

Being the middle of January, there really wasn't much field training they could accomplish in a week, but given Inuyasha's relatively long suspension from being able to fire a rifle, they decided the least they could do was visit the marksmanship range.

It took a day to arrange but they managed to sneak in at the range with another unit, after thoroughly disguising Kagome's femininity to avoid awkward questions. Inuyasha and Kagome had requisitioned their weapons of choice through OSS and brought them and a set of binoculars to the range so they could work in tandem as a spotter and shooter.

Kagome had chosen an M1903-A4 bolt action rifle with a sniper scope. Inuyasha was impressed by her selection, but couldn't resist needling her a little. "Are you sure you're going to be able to handle that, little girl? The kick is likely to toss you back from the firing line about a hundred feet ya know."

Kagome merely glared at Inuyasha and set up to shoot from the prone position.

"Are you going to want some sandbags to lay that rifle down on, little girl?"

Kagome was quickly becoming annoyed with Inuyasha's chauvinist attitude, but simply replied, "Just watch the target meathead. And don't call me 'little girl'—you're attracting attention to us."

Inuyasha looked over his shoulder, slightly chagrined at having forgotten their difficult situation, and then lay down on the ground next to her to spot the target. Shifting to his professional mode so as not to make any more mistakes, he started.

"Okay, let's get your rifle zeroed; fire." Kagome, who had already sighted downrange squeezed the trigger and let her first round fly. "Good, adjust for windage 3 clicks right, elevation 2 clicks down." Kagome took a moment to adjust the alignment of her scope and waited. "Fire…okay, adjust windage 1 click right, elevation 1 click up." Kagome adjusted as instructed and fired her third shot. "Dead center," Inuyasha told her. "Fire again…dead center. Fire again…dead center."

After loading another five rounds and hitting the target dead center all five times, Inuyasha whistled. "Well, it seems like you won't be having any problems with that rifle after all. I stand corrected," Inuyasha admitted.

Kagome grinned and said, "Your turn."

After handing over the binoculars to Kagome, Inuyasha reached for his own weapon: an M1A1 Carbine semi-automatic rifle that fired from a 15-round magazine. Kagome set up to spot the target, but before Inuyasha started zeroing he did a full check of the rifle, starting with the safety and the bolt and finishing with the sight adjustments, setting them to what he thought should be appropriate for the weapon.

"Are you ready yet?" Kagome asked mockingly.

Inuyasha only glared and said, "Shut up and watch the target wench."

Inuyasha fired his first shot and Kagome called out, "Windage: 1 left; elevation: 1 up." Inuyasha adjusted as instructed and fired again. "Dead center," Kagome called out. Inuyasha fired again and again Kagome called out, "Dead center." After his 15-round magazine was exhausted they stood up and moved to a part of the range that had a strange addition made to it. At the spotter's station behind the shooter there was a table full of levers all connected to cords leading out onto the range.

Inuyasha quickly explained how the system worked. He had designed it when he was an instructor at the Paratrooper School. "When you pull one of these levers it pops a target up off the ground, like this," he said as he pulled a lever and a white target popped off the ground. "You should only leave it up for about four seconds, and then push the lever back down," which he did and the target laid back down on the ground. "If the shooter hits the target it'll fall back down on its own. Do you want to spot or shoot first?"

Kagome was impressed. "I think I'll shoot first," she said as she took her place in the shooter's spot. Inuyasha sat at the table and waited until she was ready. "Okay start it up."

After five targets fell in rapid succession, Inuyasha decided to get tricky, so he raised two targets at the same time, the furthest and the nearest. They fell rapidly as well, frustrating Inuyasha somewhat, so he raised three, then four, then five. Kagome was easily able to get as many targets as he could throw at her with time to spare. When she had fired about forty rounds she stood up and smiled a little too sweetly at him. "You're turn."

Inuyasha shook his head and got down into his firing position. 'Boy can that girl shoot.'

_Establish Operating Procedures_

In the evenings Kagome and Inuyasha would sit down and develop their operating procedures that would define how they would act and react in particular situations. They discussed how they would communicate in public and when in tactical situations. They also covered contingency plans for worst case scenarios.

"Okay, what is the absolute worst thing that could happen to us once we're making our attempt at infiltration?" Kagome posed the heavy question.

"Hmmm," Inuyasha pondered. "That's good to consider, but I think we should look even more generally. As soon as we leave this base this coming Saturday we'll be in a position where our circumstances and opportunities will change without warning. I think our absolute worst case scenario would be if our plane were downed over German territory and we lost all of our equipment and were separated by a large distance. That would really be a problem."

"Well the first thing to do would be to reconsolidate. We stand a better chance of getting anywhere if we stick together."

"I agree. After that we'd have to try and make contact with the local underground and get supplies from them, or ambush a German patrol. I like the first option better, given that we'd have no weapons to ambush a patrol with."

Kagome nodded grimly, "Yeah, let's hope we don't have to deal with a situation like that."

"We can do better than that. We can plan as if that were the way it's supposed to happen."

_Jump Practice_

Inuyasha had tasked a practice jump for himelf and Kagome after their discussion about worst case scenarios. Fortunately he knew some of the officers in his regiment's sister unit in the 101st Airborne Division, which was currently "relaxing" as most of the troopers in Inuyasha's old unit envisioned it. In truth they were on a rigorous training schedule and took part in many field exercises. As a result, sneaking two extra troopers onto a C-47 wasn't that difficult.

"Okay, I used to be an instructor at the Airborne School, so I can help you through all of this."

"Inuyasha…"

"It's normal to get nervous as you're boarding the plane—I still do. The most important thing to remember is that if you just stay focused you'll be okay. Listen to the instructions of the jumpmaster…

"Inuyasha."

"What? I'm trying to help you here, if you'd just listen and stop interrupting me."

"Inuyasha," Kagome calmly interrupted, "I've jumped before. I actually have 11 jumps already."

Inuyasha stopped in his tracks. "Oh. Well, never mind then."

Once on board the plane Kagome started to wish she had just let Inuyasha talk. When she had jumped there had only been two or three other people jumping with her. Being packed so tightly in what looked from the outside to be a very large plane made her a bit uncomfortable. Still, she knew the procedures well. The jumpmaster called "TEN MINUTES!" just like in training and then they all stood on his command "STAND UP!" and hooked up on "HOOK UP!" The only uncomfortable part of the jump was when the jumpmaster called "SOUND OFF FOR EQUIPMENT CHECK!" and when the sound-off was being passed up the plane the trooper behind her—Inuyasha was in front of her, so she couldn't blame him—slapped her bottom much too hard. She almost cried out but remembered that girls aren't supposed to be in Paratrooper units and continued to pass the call.

Finally the Jumpmaster shoved the first trooper out the door the line started moving forward. When Inuyasha got to the door he didn't give the jumpmaster the chance to shove him out, he just jumped out immediately. Kagome wasn't so fortunate and wound up nearly getting tossed because she was so light. The shove sent her spinning and spiraling in the engine wash and when her parachute opened it was all twisted up—she was falling much too fast. Before she could panic she remembered Inuyasha's words about staying focused and she pulled her reserve parachute exactly the way she'd been taught and had a smooth landing about 100 ft. from Inuyasha. He looked surprised when she landed with her reserve open, but didn't say anything.

Kagome looked up from packing her chute when he walked over to help and said, "Well, that was fun. What do we do next?"

_Study Maps and Terrain and Collect Equipment_

Once the other tasks had either been completed or at least scheduled Inuyasha concentrated on gathering all of the equipment they'd need and information on their most likely routes into Germany. Inuyasha had developed nothing short of a survivalist's wish list for the equipment he thought he and Kagome would need on their long trip into Germany. It included things like extra ammunition, sleeping rolls, iodine tablets for water purifying, salt to preserve hunted game meat, compasses, binoculars, pistols, more extra ammunition—his worst fear was a German patrol stumbling on to them and not having enough ammunition to eliminate them.

All of these things were given to him, and he split them appropriately between his and Kagome's packs. Day by day the packs grew heavier until Kagome was worried she wouldn't be able to carry hers. Inuyasha proved her wrong by making her try it on and showing her she could—but just barely. This resulted in a promise from Inuyasha that he would not pack any more equipment in Kagome's pack, which actually turned out to be a decent size.

In between deliveries of requested equipment Inuyasha studied all of the maps and aerial photographs he could requisition. He often stayed up late looking over them and plotting landmarks and routes through dangerously open terrain. Once when Kagome suggested he take a break he almost got angry.

"Stupid girl, do you realize that if we want to get anywhere we need to know where we're starting from. Knowing your exact location is the key to survival on the battlefield. If you don't know then it doesn't matter what equipment or how much time you have. A lost soldier is a dead soldier, and I'll be damned before I let us get lost. I may be expendable, but you're not." After that, Kagome never questioned his obsessive nature regarding the maps again.

_Study Languages_

Finally Inuyasha had to find time to learn both French and German so they could get through the places they would pass through on their way to Germany. At first the task seemed so daunting that Inuyasha almost flat out refused, arguing that Kagome already knew enough French and German for the both of them. After seeing the look on Coolidge's face and, even more convincingly, the look on Kaede's face, he relinquished and agreed to study the languages.

By the end of the week Inuyasha found that studying multiple languages wasn't that much different from learning one language. He was a long way from being fluent, but as Kagome suggested if he really needed to talk to someone he could just pretend that he was deaf and dumb.

While Inuyasha was not encouraged much by that remark, Wellesley was much more optimistic about his progress.

"You see Arthur? I told you that boy would be alright. I doubt we'd be this far ahead of the game by now if he hadn't come on board."

"Yes Robert, he has proved to be very adaptive and has a lot of foresight. We'll have to wait and see how he performs when the game gets real though."

"Honestly Arthur I don't know how you can wake up in the morning if you always think about things so pessimistically. I'm the English one here, I'm supposed to be the morose one, I think."

When the following Saturday finally arrived Inuyasha was eagerly looking forward to a long relaxing plane ride to North Africa followed by a short hop to Sicily a few days later. After the flurry of activity in the previous week he was ready for some down time since the only thing he still had to do was study languages. With any luck he'd be able to speak well enough to get Kagome into Germany and get himself back to England, or at least to the French Underground.

At 0700 Inuyasha put the two sets of packs that he had put together for himself and Kagome into the jeep they would take to the airfield. Kagome, of course, had packed her own clothes and personal items, but as far as the packs made specifically for the infiltration, Inuyasha had carefully put those together and rigged them for attachment to a parachute harness—part of the worst case scenario contingency.

Miroku had woken early (relatively) to see his friend off. "Well buddy, I guess this is it. I'll be seeing you." Inuyasha snorted derisively, causing Miroku to wonder, "You are coming back aren't you?"

"Well, I am if I've got anything to say about it, but I've got a feeling it's going to depend on how well the French are able to understand me."

"Well," Miroku waggled his eyebrows at Inuyasha, "you know there's one language that all of God's children know…"

"You…"

"…the language of love."

"…pervert."

They laughed and embraced quickly before Inuyasha got in the jeep and honked the horn. "Oi! Kagome, let's get a move on! Our pilot's gonna leave without us if you don't move it."

Kagome struggled with her suitcase to the doorway of her VOQ. 'Amazing how he lets me carry this stuff myself now that he knows what I'm really capable of. Still, a little help would be nice.' No sooner had she finished the thought before Inuyasha grabbed the luggage from her hand and tossed it in the back of the jeep. 'Oh, well never mind then…'

"Isn't Kaede coming with us?" Inuyasha asked, suddenly noticing the matronly woman's absence.

"No, she left yesterday on a transport carrying some bigwigs—they had better seats than the mail plane we'll be flying in."

"Right. Well, let's get to the airfield then." Inuyasha started the jeep and drove back to the airfield that Kagome had arrived at one long week ago.


	10. We Might Be In Trouble Here

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha™ nor do I own any of its characters or its original plotline. They are the intellectual property of Takahashi Rumik…Is anyone else sick of this yet? I don't own this stuff and I never will. I think this has become so long that no one even bothers to read it anymore. Anyway, read the story, stop wasting time on this junk… _

A/N: Okay, I don't know what's going on with document uploading, but all of my break tags you know, " " are being removed, even if I try to add them manually, so I'm using horizontal rules for now. Hopefully this will get fixed soon and my aesthetics will be restored. Enjoy this one...things are starting to pick up now.

_

* * *

_

Kouga Tanaka was having a bad morning. The fact that he was having a bad morning because of the excessive fun he'd had the night before was lost on him, however. The only thing that was able to penetrate through the London Fog of his hangover was the loud banging as the ground crew loaded all of the mail bound for North Africa and Italy .

"Would you PLEASE try to keep the damn NOISE DOWN!" he yelled to the back of the plane. His loud request was met only with snickers from the ground crew and a few rude gestures. They weren't overly concerned—it was this guy's own fault he drank more alcohol than he could handle.

Of course, it didn't help Kouga to know that part of the reason he was on this stupid assignment was the same reason his head was splitting at the seams. 'Note to self: no more drinking in public—there are just too many generals' daughters running around this place…' "Stupid prudish girls…" he unintentionally said aloud.

The crew chief outside shook his head as the last mail crate went through the door and he checked it off the list. There were only two more items on the manifest for this flight—apparently some kind of USO act—and they hadn't shown up yet. After the crate was loudly dropped inside the plane eliciting yet another groan from the cockpit, the crew chief decided to head up to talk to the pilot of the battered looking C-47.

"Okay, Lieutenant, it looks like that's the last of it except for the personnel you're carrying. If you'll just sign here…" the crew chief started to hand the manifest to the rumpled looking pilot when he recoiled.

"What personnel? What are you talking about? I didn't hear nothin' about any passengers--I was told this was just a mail truck."

"Well sir when I woke up this morning there was an updated manifest on my desk and this one showed two passengers in addition to the mail that was already slated to go out. They're only bringing personal baggage so there's no need to worry about extra weight—you're still under capacity."

"But who are they?" Kouga asked just as the sound of a jeep honking loudly started to filter through the windows of the plane. Kouga turned to yell at the approaching jeep, half climbing through the window.

"Quiet down you jackass! Some of us are still waking up after a really rough night. You know for two cents…" As the jeep came closer Kouga was able to see the occupants more clearly. There were two, and there was luggage in the back of the jeep. And then he recognized the driver's face. "Oh hell..."

* * *

As Inuyasha wove through the rows of C-47s on the landing strip he grew increasingly worried that their plane was going to leave without them, and so he drove faster. It seemed, though, that the faster he drove the more people seemed to want to run out in front of him so he started honking the horn on the jeep to warn of his coming.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome shrieked as Inuyasha narrowly missed hitting a cargo trailer tooling up the row of planes. He spared a second to give her his best "What?" look before continuing to speed across airfield.

When the plane came into view there was a very agitated looking pilot leaning out the side window yelling and shaking his fist.

"What's he saying?" Kagome asked above the roar of the jeep's engine.

"I don't know, but…" Inuyasha stopped mid-sentence as the angry face of the pilot came into focus. "Oh hell, not this clown. Please tell me that this isn't happening to me."

"What?" Kagome asked. "Who is he?"

"A drunk who can't hold his liquor," Inuyasha explained as he pulled the jeep to a stop amidst the departing plane crew. He climbed out of the jeep to stop the crew chief that was just exiting the plane.

"Hey Chief! What's the story with this guy?"

"Lieutenant Tanaka?" the Chief answered. "Oh, he's a little sore this morning—pounding head and wounded pride. Nothing new. He does one of these almost once every two weeks. He got drunk last night at the O-club and got a little too friendly with some General's daughter or wife or mistress and then made an impressive show of ruining the O-club's carpet. This is his usual punishment—flying the mail truck to the South. Why?"

Inuyasha was a little stunned by the detail he received in answer to his vague question. "Well, we're going to be flying with him today and I wanted to know if he was going to be able to fly okay." Inuyasha left out his own experience with the pilot, figuring he had enough of a reputation as it was.

"Oh he'll be fine," the crew chief said lightly, "just let him have a few cups of coffee once you get aloft and he'll be fine."

"Right. You loaded parachutes?"

"Hey, buddy—this is my job we're talking about here. You were on the manifest, so I loaded extra parachutes for you two in addition to the one the pilot's got. Boy, you USO people sure are pushy. First the sudden manifest changes and scary looking people in suits and now you guys. I gotta get a transfer…" the crew chief trailed off as he walked away.

Inuyasha had stopped listening somewhere around "you USO people" and had started loading the baggage into the back of the plane and lashing it down, grumbling the whole time. Kagome extracted herself from the jeep and started into the plane.

"Wait!" Inuyasha exclaimed. "Wait here. I've got to go have a little _chat_ with the pilot before we get going," he explained to Kagome's annoyed look. She stood outside the plane and waited impatiently for Inuyasha to come back and get her.

Inuyasha hopped into the plane and stalked up to the cockpit in search of his irritable prey. As he got closer to the front of the aircraft he could hear the sounds of muttering and a few more loudly spoken choice words. Inuyasha used the noise to cover his approach behind the tousled pilot and firmly clap his hand over his shoulder—Tanaka stiffened.

"Good morning, Lieutenant. Feeling well today I hope?" Inuyasha's words were laced with sarcasm and contempt.

Tanaka turned slowly in his seat while removing Inuyasha's hand from his shoulder. "I'm fine, _private_—"

"It's Staff Sergeant now."

"—fine then, _sergeant_. I didn't realize lapdogs got promoted quite so quickly. Now get out of my cockpit before I remove you forcibly."

Inuyasha glowered at the smug officer and leaned in toward him, causing him to unconsciously lean backward.

"Listen and listen well, Tanaka. We've already had one unfortunate run-in, so let's hope this will be our last. You just concentrate on flying this brick to where we need to go and I won't cause you any further grief. Now, are we going to have any problems on this little hop?"

Kouga straightened and looked defiantly up at Inuyasha. "If you stay out of my way I'll stay out of yours. Just strap yourself into a seat and relax. Just consider yourself lucky that I can't get out of this chair during flight, or I might come back and keep your little girlfriend company while you sleep."

Inuyasha reddened—from anger, of course—and shoved the pilot back down into his seat. "Just get us going. Every minute we spend on the ground is one less minute I get to spend away from you." Inuyasha stomped toward the back of the plane to get Kagome set for the flight while Kouga smirked to himself.

'I seem to have struck a nerve…'

* * *

Kagome, still a little miffed at being left outside during the five minutes that Inuyasha had gone to "chat" with the pilot—she got the distinct impression that it was something more than a simple "Hey, how are ya?"—sat quietly in the back of the plane while Inuyasha finished securing their luggage and setting the rear of the plane in order.

A few minutes ago someone from the ground crew had driven their jeep to a safe corner of the airfield after shutting and locking the rear door of the plane. She watched as Inuyasha finally finished his packing job and sank onto the bench seats across from her.

"You all strapped in?" he asked.

Kagome rolled her eyes. "For the fourth and final time: yes, I am. Now quit bugging me. I'm still not caught up on all the sleep I lost this week from our training. I'm going to sleep, if that's alright with you?"

"Keh, that's fine with me. I'm not shutting my eyes though. Who knows what that bastard pilot might do if we both fell asleep?"

Kagome just rolled her eyes again and tried to find a comfortable position to sleep in while sitting up.

* * *

Kouga stared numbly at his assigned flight plan from England to North Africa . He'd flown it several times already, but he had only just realized how long and inefficient this flight path really was. The truth was, he could probably save a lot of gas—and cut a lot of time flying with dog-crap in the back of his plane—if he just made a few modifications.

"Let's see, instead of bearing southwest after take off so we can skirt France and fly through Spain, lets just turn southeast and fly straight across central France. That should get me there several hours ahead of schedule." Kouga sat back with a very satisfied grin after marking his map and noting the headings and distances. "This might turn out to be a good day after all," he said to himself merrily while starting up the engines and checking all his instruments. He hummed to himself as he followed the ground crew's directions to the taxiway and then accelerated down the runway.

* * *

In the back of the plane Kagome had fallen asleep before the plane even began moving. Inuyasha had determined to stay awake after Tanaka's little comment. Sure, it was pretty unlikely he would actually be able to set the plane to fly without him, but Inuyasha didn't like taking chances.

Once the plane started moving though, Inuyasha remembered how calming the vibration of the engines was when you were sitting in the back of the plane. It wasn't long after takeoff that Inuyasha fell completely asleep to the loud humming of the engines dreaming of a soft cot somewhere in North Africa with his name on it.

* * *

A harsh jolt woke the two sleeping passengers in the back of the plane.

While Kagome stretched and worked the kinks out her neck, Inuyasha shot awake, completely alert. There weren't any other bumps following the one that had woken them, so he figured it was probably just turbulence. He looked at his watch and determined that they should still be over the ocean, but nearing the Spanish coast by now. As the clouds beneath the plane broke though, Inuyasha could see that they were solidly over land.

"Kagome, are you awake?"

Kagome rubbed some sleep from her eyes and murmured, "Mm-hmm."

"Good. We might be in trouble here. I want you to start getting strapped into that parachute."

"Okay…" Kagome said, half-awake.

"Hey, are you listening to me?" Inuyasha stood and moved over to her to shake her awake. "Kagome! Wake up." She blinked several times and finally focused on him.

"What? I want to sleep—"

"Kagome, listen to me. We are not where we're supposed to be. I don't know where we are but this jackass changed his flight plan on us and our escort isn't going to find us. Get your parachute on and sit here. I'm going to go have another chat with this guy."

Kagome woke fully as Inuyasha explained the situation. Looking through the windows she could tell by the direction the sun was shining from that they were traveling the wrong direction for how long they had been flying. She moved to start strapping into the parachute harness while Inuyasha took his up front to talk to the pilot.

* * *

As Inuyasha moved forward in the cabin he started stepping into the parachute harness and buckling it loosely. 'What the hell does this guy think he's doing? I swear I'll drop him out of the plane without his parachute if he wants to start something.'

"Hey, asshole!" Inuyasha called over the noise of the engines in the cockpit. "Where the hell do you think you're going?" The pilot didn't respond, but rather pointed to a map on the co-pilot's chair, which Inuyasha snatched up to read. After looking at for a few seconds he wadded it up and threw it to the floor. Then he leaned over and got in Tanaka's face so he could hear him more clearly.

"Are you outta your freakin' mind! What possessed your small brain to fly us directly through enemy airspace!"

Kouga just shook his head and grinned up at the irate sergeant. "This way is shorter—less time you have to spend with me, you know? Besides, we're a freakin' mail plane. Who'd want to shoot down a mail plane with a couple of USO performers?"

Inuyasha had been looking out the windscreen while Kouga spoke. Upon his posing the rhetorical question, Inuyasha grabbed him roughly by the jaw and turned his head to look to the front of the plane. "Probably them," Inuyasha grimly shouted.

About that time the two German FW-190 fighters that Inuyasha had been watching approach them head on released a spray of machine gun fire into the plane as they flew overhead. Kouga looked shocked as he tried to perform evasive maneuvers, which were almost impossible in the sluggish cargo plane.

As Inuyasha hurried back to the rear of the plane Kouga started broadcasting a 'Mayday' message to any friendly aircraft in the area.

"Mayday, mayday. This is Pony Express calling Mayday for any allied fighters who can hear me. I have fallen under attack by two German FW-190s…" He trailed off as he stopped to find the map that Inuyasha had thrown on the floor. 'Impulsive idiot…' he thought.

He wasn't really expecting a response, but when he got one he was so relieved he almost missed what they said.

"Pony Express this Redtail 4. We copy mayday. Call out your position and we will attempt to intercept you."

Kouga had just found his position on the map and was getting ready to radio it to Redtail 4 when the Germans made another pass, this one striking the cockpit directly. As the instrument panel exploded in front of him, his last thought before blacking out was, 'I'm definitely swearing off alcohol from now on…'

* * *

When Inuyasha got to the rear of the plane he was glad to see Kagome had already finished getting her parachute harness buckled and was attaching her pack to the harness the way Inuyasha had showed her. He checked over Kagome's rig to make sure she hadn't missed anything and then finished strapping himself into his. He was just about to start attaching his pack to his harness when they were hit again and he heard an explosion in the cockpit. The nose started to tip downward suddenly and Inuyasha knew that the supposed 'impossible worst case scenario' was unfolding before his very eyes. He looked back to Kagome who seemed to know what he was thinking, because she had already hooked her static line to the cable running the length of the plane. She looked back at him from the doorway and he gave her a shove out the door, hoping she wouldn't hit the outside of the plane as they continued to nose down.

With Kagome gone he turned his attention to the obviously disabled pilot. He slid down to the cockpit to see if there was anyone there to save and was surprised to find that the pilot was only unconscious. He reached forward and pulled the yoke back and leveled the plane off momentarily while he pulled the out-cold pilot from the seat.

"You're lucky I've already had my fill of death, or else I'd just leave your sorry ass here."

After checking the direction they were flying so he could use the back-azimuth to find Kagome he set the plane flying level once more and moved to the rear of the plane as fast as he could with Tanaka slung over his shoulder. He got to the door just as the plane was starting to dip again. Fortunately Tanaka had had the foresight to strap into a parachute before take-off, so Inuyasha immediately tossed him out of the plane while he held his ripcord.

With Tanaka "safely" out of the plane, Inuyasha turned his attention to his pack. When the plane suddenly lurched and nosed down, Inuyasha decided that his pack was secured "well enough" and leapt from the falling plane into the icy wind outside.


	11. A Perfect Disaster

_Disclaimer: I know now that nobody reads these but for the sake of appearances…I don't own the rights blah blah blah if you sue me you also inherit my debt—nya nya raaaaaaaaazzzzzzzzz …_

_A/N: In this chapter I introduce some characters that will seem familiar but have had their names changed, since there really is no equivalent in French for some of the Japanese names in the series. I thought long and hard how to do this and I realized that I'd kind of painted myself into a corner on this particular issue, so I'll stick with the locality I picked in order for the story to flow properly. Also, sorry for the delay—I needed French for this chapter and my interpreter was out of town until the 8th, so hopefully after this things will go a little more smoothly._

* * *

Kagome recovered from Inuyasha's rough shove just in time to see the tail end of the plane sail over her head. After her chute had opened she turned to look at the plane drifting further away, noting that it had straightened considerably since she had exited.

"Come on Inuyasha, what are you waiting for? Jump!"

The rumble of engines brought her attention back to her own situation and she looked around for the fighter planes that were turning to make yet another pass on the ill-fated mail plane. She quickly remembered that she presented an easy target as the rumble grew louder, so she reached up and pulled the parachute risers down as hard as she could to collapse her canopy and drop quickly. No sooner had she done so than a short burp of cannon fire erupted behind her and flew through the airspace she would have been in.

Fortunately for Kagome, the still aloft mail plane presented a much more tempting target, so the fighters flew past her without making any more attempts at shooting her down. With that danger past, Kagome turned her attention to finding a suitable spot to land. Being in northern France, however, realistically limited her options to what type of tree she preferred to land in, so instead she decided on trying to follow the plane as far as she could, and trying to find a clearing along the way.

She was still moving in the general direction the plane had been flying, scanning the ground for possible landing zones, when a muffled explosion caused her to jerk her head up in alarm. All rational thought ceased as she took in the sight of what she decided must be the burning wreckage of her plane hurtling toward the ground. The fact that she only saw one parachute dimly silhouetted against the horizon only doubled her anxiety.

"Inuyasha, that'd better be you under that canopy over there…"

* * *

It was not Inuyasha under the canopy, as Kagome hoped. Rather, a very unconscious Kouga Tanaka swung lifelessly under the great silk dome that he had strapped to his backside only a few hours previously.

He drifted in and out of consciousness, each time realizing anew that he was no longer in his plane. By the time he came around for the tenth time he realized that he was staring down into a lush and soft looking orchard. He wondered briefly if he was dead and floating up toward heaven, before his addled brain reminded him of two things: 1) if he _were_ dead, heaven was not the place he would probably be heading to; and 2) the ground was coming _up_ at him, not down away from him. As he started to lose consciousness again he decided he'd dwell on that little revelation more the next time he woke up, hopefully in his own soft bed…

* * *

Inuyasha barely restrained a bark of laughter as he left the plane just in time to see the German fighters come back to make their final pass. This was for several reasons that occurred to him as he thought he was staring death in the face for the last time, but when he was still alive several seconds later, he focused only on the one overwhelmingly important fact—in his haste to leave the plane, he had neglected to attach his own static line to the anchor cable in the plane.

It was just as well, really, he decided, since the plane had been falling faster than he was when he jumped. Remembering his second demotion Inuyasha did laugh at the irony in the situation as he pulled the cord on his reserve parachute.

'Wouldn't it be a suiting death for me to die by jumping without a parachute that would open.

He waited anxiously the three seconds it took for the canopy to fill up and arrest his fall watching the open farmland beneath him rush up at him a bit to quickly for his comfort. When his reserve chute finally fully deployed he let go of the breath he hadn't noticed he was holding. The jerk upwards was hard enough that it caused his pack to come loose from the clips on his harness, which in itself wasn't so much a problem because it was also attached to him by a fifteen foot static line. The problem occurred when the static line reached its limit and the shock from _that_ spilled the entire contents of his pack onto the ground below.

Inuyasha watched his carefully gathered supplies drop the remaining two hundred feet or so to the ground, and he could only bring himself to mutter a single word.

"Perfect."

He took some comfort in the fact that a two hundred foot fall would not destroy everything that he had packed, but it was a small consolation when he next noticed that his rifle was no longer next to his side—if indeed it ever had been.

After landing roughly with the backup parachute Inuyasha spent about two minutes gathering the impact resistant contents of his pack that he could find—thankfully among them were his compass and his map case, his sidearm, and some food. After shoving these things into the remnants of his pack he quickly rolled up his parachute and ran into the nearby orchard in the opposite direction the plane had been flying in.

'I hope Kagome is faring better than I am.'

After stopping to hide his parachute and harness under some thick brush he shook his head ruefully.

'Who am I kidding? The chances that Kagome's doing better than I am are slim to none—I just hope she managed to hang on to more of her gear.'

* * *

Kagome sneezed violently as she continued her descent while an unbidden thought came to her.

'Somebody must be speaking badly about me.'

She shook off the superstitious thought as quickly as it came and concentrated on trying to make it to the clearing she had managed to find. Her feet were starting to brush the tops of the trees short of the clearing and she knew she was going to fall short. She tugged harder on her front risers but it was no use—Kagome slid into the thick canopy of the trees below her, finally coming to a stop about fifteen feet off the ground. She looked up at her parachute and saw that it was stuck without any hope of getting it loose—not that she really wanted to fall the extra fifteen feet anyway.

Looking at all the broken branches she had passed through she was glad she and Inuyasha had agreed she should wear pants under her long skirt while they were traveling. For one thing putting on a parachute harness over a skirt looked ridiculous, and for another it didn't work very well (probably the very reason the Scottish paratroopers had finally agreed not to wear their kilts into battle). Bringing her mind back to her present situation, she took stock of what she had left the plane with: her pack was still attached to her harness, her rifle case was secure at her side, and her reserve parachute was still intact.

Seeing as she was stuck in a tree, and nobody—except maybe Inuyasha—would be coming to get her, she had to get herself down. The method for this had been demonstrated to her, but she'd never actually had to do it, so she decided to proceed very carefully. First she detached her rifle in its case from her harness and tied it to the side of her pack. Then she took the slack of the static line attached to her pack and undid the clips attaching the pack her harness, lowering her equipment to the ground slowly so as not to jar anything loose. Once her pack was on the ground she very carefully undid the clips keeping her in the harness, and maneuvered herself out onto the static line, climbing down hand over hand as carefully as she could. When she finally reached the ground she looked back up at her harness hanging from the tree and decided she'd just have to leave the whole thing there, since there was no way to get back up there and down again safely.

'There—that wasn't so hard. I'm not hurt and I still have all of my equipment. If I'm doing this well Inuyasha must be several steps ahead of me already—I'll have to hurry to catch up.'

She unpacked her rifle, changed out of her dress shoes, strapped on her pack, and started off in the direction the plane had been flying to accomplish the first task in their worst case scenario—reconsolidate on high ground.

* * *

Inuyasha cursed as quietly as he could after rolling his left ankle for the fifth time in nearly as many minutes.

'Damn reserve 'chutes are way to small for someone carrying a combat load,' he reflected, trying desperately not to upset his twisted ankle any further. 'I guess there's a reason they decided not to let paratroopers wear short-topped boots—landing in these dress shoes nearly broke my ankles.'

He stopped to consider the picture he presented. 'Yeah, if anybody sees me there gonna have a real hard time figuring out where I came from…' Still dressed in his formal dress uniform for traveling purposes, he decided he stuck out like a sore thumb in the thick, bright green foliage he was surrounded with.

Getting moving again he started looking for some high ground ahead of him, trying to figure out where Kagome would make the rally point. Climbing to the top of a small hillock he looked out as best as he could over the tree tops. Seeing a large domed hill about two or three kilometers away he decided that was probably where Kagome was heading.

"That's where I would go if I were in her shoes," he said to no one—or so he thought. A rustle in the brush at the bottom of his hillock instantly put him on alert, looking for what had caused the noise. When a rabbit darted out of the brush a moment later he let his guard down slightly.

'The sooner that I get to that hill and get Kagome, the sooner we can figure out what to do next.'

Stepping lightly, he hurried as fast as he could in the direction he was sure would take him to Kagome.

* * *

A little more than an hour later, Inuyasha arrived at the base of the domed hill. He decided it was best to reconnoiter the area first, so he made a circuit around the base of the hill looking for old encampments, bunkers, and signs of enemy patrols passing through the area. He did find some signs of activity and a hastily made shelter, but decided that they were long out of use and so ignored them.

Finally, forty five minutes later, he returned to the spot he had started his recon from and started to ascend the hill before hearing the distinctive sound of a rifle's bolt being cycled.

He started to turn to face his apparent captor when he was suddenly struck hard on the back of his head with what his fading mind decided was the butt of a rifle.

'Well this day just keeps getting better and better..' he thought bleakly as he blacked out.

* * *

Kagome had seen a large domed hill in the direction of the crash site while she had still been airborne so she made for the hill, arriving there almost two hours after jumping from the plane—it turned out that it was much further away than it had looked from the air. Stopping to rest at the bottom of the hill she dropped her pack and removed a canteen from one of the outside pockets. Taking a short drink—'Who knows when I'll get more water,' she thought—she replaced the canteen and strapped her pack on once more, heading for the top of the hill.

After a long climb she reached the top of the hill and surveyed the clearing before her, perfectly formed on the exact center of the dome top. Everything seemed fine except for the lilting sound of a girl singing to herself. At first Kagome couldn't figure out where it was coming from, but as she moved around the edge of the clearing she was able to see a young girl with red hair sitting with her back against a tree, singing to herself in French. Kagome was just about to back off and look for a spot to wait for Inuyasha on his side of the hill when a mechanical 'click' sounded behind her. Kagome froze and quickly analyzed the situation.

Taking a chance, Kagome spoke without moving. "Qui est que va?"

Silence followed for several tense seconds, during which Kagome noticed that the little girl was no longer singing. Kagome worried to herself in a whirlwind of thoughts. 'Who's caught me? Are they German or French? What was the little girl doing up here by herself? Are they going to shoot me? Did they get Inuyasha too?...' Her unasked questions were interrupted suddenly when her captor spoke.

"Qui vous est?"

Kagome relaxed, but only slightly. Her guess was so far turning out to be at least slightly correct. "Je suis Américain. Je suis un civil." An indignant snort set Kagome on edge, ready to react again. She realized she may have just made a big mistake.

"You call yourself a civilian, yet you carry military equipment and a sniper rifle, from the looks of it," spoke a woman with a heavy accent. "Turn around."

Kagome turned to face a tall brunette haired woman holding a German semi-automatic rifle. Judging by the way the woman was holding it and how steady it was in her hands, Kagome would have bet that her captor was quite comfortable with weapons and marksmanship. The woman was slender because of her height (probably a good two or three inches taller than Kagome) but she had the solid build of someone who was used to manual labor and physical work. Any thoughts of trying to fight back and escape quickly left Kagome's mind, especially after noticing the Luger pistol that the red-headed girl quickly concealed when she noticed her looking.

"So I'll ask you again: who are you?"

Kagome's mind raced trying to decide how she could test this woman to find out if she was friend or foe without revealing any information. She finally settled on using one of the pass phrases. Pointing at a spot of mud on the woman's blouse, she said, "Only heavy rains will wash out that stain."

The rifle never wavered, but the woman's face lit up then and her eyes widened in recognition as she repeated the proper counter-sign: "Then we must seed the clouds and dance and sing aloud."

Kagome relaxed a little when the counter-sign was repeated, but did not fully relax until after the rifle had been lowered. Once that happened though she found herself trapped yet again, but this time in the woman's strong embrace.

"You are finally here! Oh we had grown so impatient waiting for the liberators to come. How does it go then? Are the Nazi's in retreat? Is Paris back in the hands of our rightful government? You must tell me all that has happened, but first we'll need to gather the people and share the news…"

Kagome was bewildered until she remembered what that particular pass phrase was for—it indicated the liberation of France and was a message for the French Resistance to fight openly. Oops.

"No, no. I am sorry—I have delivered the wrong message, but at least now you know I am a friend."

The woman stopped abruptly. "So France is not free yet? Our allies have not come to help us?"

"No that's not true either—we are here to help, but in a more obscure and quiet kind of way. Do you know what I mean?"

The woman considered for a moment, and then smiled. "Yes I think I know exactly what you mean, but before we say anything more we should get indoors. Because of that plane crash there will soon be German Patrols combing this area for survivors. I know a safe place you can hide. Follow me."

Feeling much better than she did at the start of the conversation Kagome tried to keep up with the quick woman as she ran south toward the open orchard land and presumably safety.


End file.
